New Year in Stoneybatter

On meeting Santa

DID I ever tell you all about the time I met Santa?

Well it was a couple of years ago and I was struggling home with some Christmas shopping when I flagged a taxi and it was Santa driving, seriously Santa was driving the taxi.

I kept doing a double-take, he was uncannily Santa and as it was Christmas time I couldn't help but say that it must be a very busy time of year for him and he laughed heartily. From his snow white hair to his magnificent Santa beard, this man was the best Santa I had and have ever seen, think Richard Attenborough Miracle on 34th Street Santa and you are getting close.

So we had the craic and he told me how his nickname is Santa and how Christmas is indeed busy for him as he does many Santa outings and how on Stephen's Day when him and Mrs Claus go for a Christmas drink all his mates get him a seat and line up a load of drinks in front of him saying 'you must be bleedin knackered'.

As he drove me home we chatted away. When we reached my house I paid him, grabbed all my bags he said 'Happy Christmas and may all your dreams come true' stopping me in my tracks. It felt like a moment from a movie when the adult realises that Santa is real, fairy dust has been sprinkled over everything and who knows what could happen.

Once I went inside the fairy dust was gone and I had a little laugh to myself but its funny I have never seen him again. After all you do sometimes come across the same taxi driver, theres one guy I have gotten twice and not since and both times, a year apart, I flagged him down at Phibsboro crossroads at about 6.30am going to the airport but I have never met Santa again. (You can start with the Twilight Zone music right about now.) :) I suppose he is very busy this time of year.

So Happy Christmas everyone, I sincerely wish you all a wonderful time with your family and friends, and may all your dreams come true (sprinkles some fairy dust). More soon. (PS thanks to Claire for the excellent templates.)

Christmas is coming

CHRISTMAS is coming and the O'Connell Street tree, a new one no less, is being constructed as we speak. Apparently it will be lit on Sunday. No harm to anyone but I am still in autumn, not the run-up to Christmas.

One good thing though I have gotten some presents out of the way, some small things I got over the summer, and some other things over the last couple of weeks. I haven't gone mad and won't go mad but it is good this year to be starting to get it out of the way. The last couple of years finances have left things to the last minute and it is not that they are much better this year, but I am determined to do bits and pieces as the weeks move on.

Anyway this wasn't supposed to be a Christmas post, thats your fault for letting me ramble on, the purpose of the post was this photograph.

RM colum January 11 - Growing up too fast

RM column January 11 - Growing up too fast

I HAVE never been someone who is comfortable judging other parents and their parenting skills at all. But sometimes you see or hear something and you think ‘what on earth’.

I had a moment like that over Christmas when I heard about the presents given to a seven-year-old and was absolutely shocked.

Santa was very good to the little dear when he gave her a laptop, an ipod AND a Prada phone, seriously a Prada phone.

Firstly I think seven years old is far too young for a mobile, I really do. Presumably a child at seven is not out running about so other than finding out where they are they really have no need for a phone, let alone a bling bling designer phone.

To be honest all that sounds more like the parent’s want than the child’s. How precocious does a child have to be to hope Santa brings them a Prada phone.

I really don’t want to be holier than thou about it but I cannot help myself. To be honest I am sickened by the amount of money spent on all those presents and I am sickened by the commercialism of it all.

This yen for designer stuff for children puts so much pressure on other parents and brings a whole new meaning to keeping up with the Jones.

I have been lucky that the Young Wan never pleaded and whined about where her clothes came from because I do realise that some kids now have ridiculous and expensive tastes. Besides I wouldn’t tolerate whining over clothes and labels or the lack thereof.

But I do know that some parents have completely and utterly spoiled their little dears and probably have no one but themselves to blame when the child will not wear something unless it is a designer brand.

Which brings me back to the Prada phone, bear in mind a seven-year-old is only a handful of year away from playing with a plastic toy phone and to me buying them a mobile and a designer one at that is taking away some of their innocence by allowing them to grow up that bit quicker.
We have make-up kits for pre-teens, clothes that wouldn’t be out of place in a lap dancing club and now hair removal cosmetic company Nair are marketing a range called ‘pretty’ aimed at 10 to 15 year olds.

They even have a slick website which tells kids that growing hair is all part of growing up ‘chill, you’re growing up, it’s all good’ before showcasing a range of products for these pre-pubescent kids to ‘remove unwanted hair’.

The site even has a section for ‘Mom’ where Nair advise mothers on what to tell their daughters about puberty and a myth-busting section on hair removal.

Jaysus it is tough enough being a teenager without products being aimed at them encouraging the thought that pubic hair and therefore puberty are things to be ashamed of. The thought of an 11-year-old removing hair from her, as the website puts it, ‘legs (and other part of your body)’ is ridiculous.

The site itself parades all this as if it were normal and the company parades itself as being on the child’s side, it isn’t. All they want to do is to capitalise on the tween buying power and shame on them for doing that.

It is hard enough to keep your child exactly that a child without giving them the message that there is something unnatural and horrible about the changes that are happening to them.
When we grow up we are adults for a long time, childhood doesn’t last that long. Our children should be concerned about silly things, having fun and playing games not designer phones and hair removal.

(With many thanks to the gals at Beaut.ie for bringing the Nair website aimed at youngsters to my attention.)

Oh yeah Happy New Year

I HAVEN'T had any internet access at home since before Christmas when Nanny *ahem* fiddled with the vodafone broadband yoke and the computer no longer recognises it. But eh that is another story, she says she didn't touch anything but eh it ain't working and hasn't worked despite being reinstalled a load of times.

So until I get some kind of broadband sorted out in the new place our home is an internet free place. As an aside I had a mad phonecall with Eircom when I tried to move my account. The conversation went something like this...

"Hello I wish to move my landline and broadband account to my new address."

"Okay, the house you are moving too has never had a landline so that will be (large amount) to get it connected and you will have to get onto your broadband provider to have that moved as it isn't with us."

"Eh, there was a landline previously in the new house and my broadband is with Eircom."

"Your broadband is not with us, it says here another provider and I have no record of a landline at that address.'

"Eh it isn't, it is with yourselves... And there was a landline..."

At that stage I gave up. I called another time after that and came against another brick wall as I didn't have my account number with me at the time. So the bottom line is I have no line and no broadband.

So apologies for not posting over the last two weeks and belatedly wishing you all a Happy New Year and the best of everything.

Trocaire's Global Gift campaign

TROCAIRE are running a Global Gift campaign this Christmas, with gifts sent to families or communities in the developing world. So if there is someone and you do not know at all what to get them, you will find something for them while helping people in the developing world.

Check it out here on their website.

RM colum December 13 - Christmas is coming

RM column December 13 - Christmas is coming, fast

(Written last week for today's paper but I'm publishing it here now to draw your attention to the Barnardos Christmas toy appeal which ends tomorrow)

CHRISTMAS is rapidly gaining on us. With our house move and the eh house move I have so far done absolutely nothing for Christmas, at all. Not one present has been bought and a quick mental calculation of my finances reveals that there may not even be money to get presents.
And I refuse to get stressed or worried about this, well not a lot anyway.

I would say this year is the first the Young Wan hasn’t made a list at this stage. She hasn’t asked for anything and hasn’t even dropped the smallest of hints about anything that I have been aware of.

So I asked her the other night what she would like for Christmas and I have to say her answer stumped me completely.

“Ach nothing really, I have everything I want,” she said.

She has an ipod, she has a phone and there wasn’t anything else that she really wanted, well clothes would be nice she added at the end.

At least that takes some pressure off me though I still have to brave the shops and other shoppers to find something to put under the tree. The funny thing about Christmas is all the stress and panic in the build-up to that one day is gone by lunchtime on December 25th for another year. It is always at that stage I think ‘what was all the panic about?’.
I think being in a new house will be Christmas present enough for us both.

Thinking about all the stress and the finance-stretching has made me realise that even though things will be tight, generally it will all be okay and there are many families who cannot say that.
There are families where the kids will get little to nothing and the pressure on those families must be huge.

Last year I meant to get something for the annual AIB Toy Appeal for Barnardos but with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas I missed the deadline and I will make sure I catch it this year.
It is a great appeal where people are asked during their Christmas shopping to buy an extra present for a child who attends one of the many Barnardos services and leave it into a branch of the AIB.

I’m sure as in many things like it that teenagers are often forgotten. After all it is easier to buy toys for younger kids than teens so I decided that I would get something for teenagers.
That’s all well and good but what would I get? So I decided that vouchers are probably the way to go.

Even if I could afford to buy an ipod or MP3 player for someone I couldn’t be sure they would have a computer or access to a computer to put their music on it.

Vouchers definitely seem like a better plan. So I’ll get some clothes and music vouchers.
The closing date for the Barnardos appeal ends tomorrow (December 14th) and if you are able do buy something to make Christmas special for a child and get it to your nearest branch of the AIB before the closing date.

Nannys gone home - the official end of Christmas

NEVER mind Nollaig na mBhan, the official end to Christmas in my household after the taking down of the tree is when Nanny goes back home.

She left this morning. I came home from work and the flat was cold and untidy. There was no fire lit, no dinner waiting. The doggie has pestered me to play since I came home before running off with one of my socks which she trailed off my foot. Seems everyone in the house misses Nanny.

On the flipside the Young Wan gets her bed and chair back.

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A New Year and Finally Broadband

PHEW it's all over for another year, the whole bloody lot, Christmas, New Year all the fun and frolics of the festive season. And I still have one more day off, yippee. To top it all off my broadband arrived today, I got one of the Eircom packages following advice from Damien. It's set up now and working away. So this is my first official post in highspeed. And it's great :)

Considering my internet usage over the last while it was false economies not getting it before now especially considering the amount of photography I do but I had it in my head that getting broadband ties me more to this flat like a mental contract. I then thought feck it, besides I am doing more and more work at home so it makes complete sense. Never mind the fact that the chances of me moving soon are slim to zero.

So tomorrow marks the official end of Christmas in our house, it's the Young Wan's birthday, she is fifteen. This makes me feel old, much older than I feel about my actual age. I have a nearly grown young woman, Jaysus, sure I am only a young woman myself, in fact I probably feel more like a teenager than I should. If any of you are interested in my memories of 15 years ago you can read one bit here at Damien's blog when he asked us to recall 10 minutes you would like to relive again and the other here which I wrote last year on her fourteenth birthday.

Right I am off to try and catch up on all the blogs I have neglected over the last two weeks. Happy New Year everyone and heres looking forward to another great year in the Bogosphere. Oh and Happy Birthday darling :) XxX

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Thats it for another year

THAT'S for another year. Thank God for that and everything went well. The Young Wan was delighted with her presents and the dinner was absolutely gorgeous. I am not back to work until near the end of next week and all is good. The Young Wan has departed to her boyfriend's house for the evening so it is just myself, Nanny and the doggie lounging about in front of the year. Bliss.



One of the many Christmas hits with the Young Wan was the make them yourself gothic Christmas crackers which matched our Christmas table perfectly (he he). The table cloth is older than Nanny, she remembers it as a child on the Christmas table as do I. It isn't Christmas dinner without it. It'll sit on the table for the next couple of days before being packed away again for next year.



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Happy Christmas everyone

Happy Christmas everyone, I hope Santa is good to you all. Oh and I did get the tree up as the bottom pic testifies. (Phew)

XxX Red Mum





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Ho Ho Bloody Ho

It's the 22nd of December, I still have presents to get, I haven't put up my tree yet, I need to clean and clear the space where the tree has to go, I have to clean and clear the flat so the place is pleasant to be in, I have still to dress and go into town, I have a hangover, the Christmas grocery shopping has still to be done (though thank God for Nannys who is as we speak starting the ball rolling on that one - yeahhhh).

The fact is I have nothing done, despite starting my shopping in early November where I got some stuff and then did nothing more. Though I did follow Beaut's advice and ordered some stuff online from Benefit for Nanny but I need to get more and haven't a clue what to get her. The Young Wan's main present is in a friend's friend's house way northside and I have to somehow get it. We also had a mad dash to get to Tetra's place where more stuff was stored before she travelled back to Belfast.

And what am I doing about it, why I am blogging about not having it all done of course just to show you some Christmas pics, enjoy. Oh and there are more on Flickr.











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H h h hhangover

I am hungover from hell. Yesterday was my last day at work until after the New Year and it was also my birthday and a very busy day overall.

The day started early like every other work day and finished up at about 5am this morning. I can’t do it anymore. I suppose that’s a lie because I did do it.

I am sitting now in front of a big fire but it is making no difference to the fact that I am cold, the flat is cold, I am tired and barely able to type. Unfortunately I was forced to because I had to submit my column this morning.

Now I won’t take the laptop off my lap as I am enjoying the warmth on my legs too much.

The season’s festivities kicked off with a staff lunch before going back to my desk for an hour then retiring to the pub. We started off the day's drinking with work colleagues before heading to the Market Bar to have a swifty drink with Colm, Treassa, Claire and Annette. Just as I left another blogger Ger joined our ranks but I had to fly despite the charming Colm giving me his stool which was very welcome given the fact that the place was absolutely jammers. Nice to see you all again and meet you Treassa. (I will provide links later, too fiddly to do now)

After a drink and a chat about cameras much to my non-photography-inclined pal’s annoyance, we headed off to meet Tetra, who had managed to get a babysitter for the night.

We went to her local where there was ample seats and too many rounds. Once it was kicking out time we staggered around to Tetra’s place where we drank more, which we needed like a hole in the head and danced to Dolly Parton and much more, none of which spring to my frazzled mind, except the distinct memory of strutting our stuff while singing loudly to 'Nine to Five'.

When I hit my front door step at 5am I realised I didn’t have keys so I had to ring poor Nanny awake to let me in.

I woke up at 11am to the loud hiccupping of the Young Wan who was walking around my bedroom before going into the bathroom, which is in my bedroom, to wash her bloody hair. I mean that seriously could have waited until I got up.

So now I am nursing the laptop and have to somehow get myself together and go into town. I still have things to get. Anyone any thoughts on what to get Nanny, she is a pain in the a*rse to buy for?

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