Tuesday 24.12.2024 - Christmas Eve

Donadea Forest Park

I was once again the first up out of bed, so I did some more reading. Breakfast was the familiar cereal and toast; I had Alpen, so nice to have it again.

A robin

Sometime after breakfast we went to Donadea forest park in county Kildare. Close to the entrace there was a little hut selling coffee and tea. I opted for a cappuccino which turned out to very stromg indeed. While Barbara was waiting for the coffees, I was enjoying a robin which was snacking outisde.

Donadea Castle

We went for a walk, passing by the ruins of the castle, and down by a lake there was a strange contorted tree growing out of a bunch of rocks, the roots all entangled and gnarled. To my right, I was admiring a huge majestic tree which turned out to have a special significance for the girls.

The cool house

We went deep into the woods, and came a across a large mound with a walled entracned closed off by a gate. It turned out that this was an ice-house a sort of walk-in fridge which was associated with the castle. This castle and the surrounding land was the property of the Aulmer family, who sold off the estate aboit 100 years ago. We spent quite some time walking around, it all felt very spooky to me.

A wonderful toastie prepared with love!

Finally we found the exit again and the girls fed some ducks before we made our way back to Longwood. We called ahead and Feargal prepared some yummy toasted sandwhiches with Irish batch loaf.

Christmas Eve Mass at Saint Patrick's in Trim

In the evening, we all got showered and changed, and headed off to Trim. Joanie was saying a prayer of the faithful in Irish. The organ music was fantastic. There was a hyperactive young fellow with Down's who was making a lot of noise, much to the annoyance of his parents, so his sister decided to join in too! There was also a boy dressed as Joseph, who kept removing his head covering! The baby Jesus statue was placed in a crib at the end of the mass, after which there was a scramble to take pictures.

AI generated

We returned to Longwood, where we had pizza, chips, and garlic bread with onion rings while watching the Grinch, beautifully played by Jim Carrey. Pretty soon, we all headed off to bed, and Barbara and Feagal left our drinks and snacks for Santa and the reindeer.

In a word #ChristmasEve #Contaenamí #CountyMeath #Meath #Longwood #Meath #Anmhí #MaighDearmhaí #BaileÁthaTroim