Christmas in Ireland... Guest Post

Good morning, everyone!!

Today is a busy day for me.... it's Jelly's 4th birthday tomorrow, so today we're having a little birthday party for her.  It's kind of a surprise party.  She knows we're going to do something today, but she's not sure what.  Because of that, I wasn't really able to do anything yesterday in the way of getting ready.  I now have the time the kids are gone at church to clean my house, and go get groceries and the cake.  My family are all coming over to celebrate her day - so I'm sure it will be quite the hectic day.

Because of all that, and because I just couldn't wait to share this with you all.... I'm posting a guest post today.  It's from my friend, Chantelle who lives in Ireland.  I got to guest post over at her blog the other day about my Christmas traditions, and I was very excited for her to come and share some Irish Christmas traditions here.

So...here you go...

Hello there, my name is Chantelle, an Irish girl who can be usually found blogging about weight loss on www.projectchantelle.blogspot.com or about life in general on www.thelifeandtimesofchantelle.blogspot.com.  Joanna and I are doing a little blog exchange I guess, she featured on my blog sharing her Christmas memories and here I am sharing some Christmas love too!  Joanna asked me to talk about my Christmas plans as well as some of my accomplishments this year.

Christmas for me is pretty hectic; I will be working Christmas Eve and then traveling home to spend time with my family. Christmas Eve means a candlelit church service with my entire extended family, a visit to my Mom’s grave to lay wreaths, listening to the school choir singing hymns and then a family gathering in my Nan’s for cocktails and fun!  I stay with my Nan when I am home so when everyone has gone home, Nan and I get into our pyjamas, make some tea and chat until the wee hours, before we go to bed we open one present each and then head to bed.

This Christmas Day is going to be different as Nan and I are going to my aunt’s house for dinner.  Christmas morning will be presents and a chocolate filled breakfast (yum!) and then we will get all dressed up and walk to my aunt’s.  The day will be filled with laughter, love, food and naps. It is lazy but it is how we do things.  I would not have it any other way!

The day after Christmas is St Stephens Day, and is a pretty big deal.  St Stephen’s night is traditionally when everyone goes out to party, for me it is time to catch up with all my friends who are home for Christmas and go dancing.  It’s one of my favourite nights of the year!  Everyone is happy and ready to let their hair down.  Irish people tend to be good at that ha ha!  The day after is usually spent recovering in front of the TV eating turkey sandwiches and eating sweets.  Heaven!

2011 has been a pretty amazing year! I left Ireland in September 2010 to travel and I began the New Year in Bangkok, Thailand.  My boyfriend and I were drinking beers and watching the fireworks go off around the city, not too shabby!  We spent the first part of January lying on the beaches of Ko Pha Ngan and Ko Samui before heading to Malaysia and Singapore.  Coming home was a pretty big shock to the system, I did not know what to do with myself.  I was back living at home, my boyfriend was living two hours away back with his family, we were broke and trying to figure out what to do next.  We were lucky that we both managed to get our old jobs back and to get an apartment together.

Once I got back working I set about working on me, thus Project Chantelle was born. I’d gained a lot of weight in college and I was determined to finally lose it. So I joined Weight Watchers and 30lbs
later I have not looked back!  I still have plenty to lose but I can finally look in the mirror without hating myself and I think that’s a pretty good accomplishment for 2011.

My other accomplishment has been blogging, it is something I’ve always wanted to do and this year. I finally bit the bullet and ended up with not one but two blogs!  I really love it; it is like therapy for me and lets me indulge my creative side.  I’ve met some amazing people through blogging and I am grateful for that.  Especially when I get a chance to write for other people.  It is a big honour!

I added a few festive pictures from Cork for you to see Christmas in Ireland!

Happy Holidays!

Chantelle xxx

Thanks, Chantelle - that was a great post!  I love hearing about how everyone celebrates Christmas - especially in other countries.

Alright, now it's time for me to prepare for a birthday party!  Everyone have a wonderful Sunday - and if you get a few minutes, go over to Chantelle's blogs and say Hi!

Till next time. ;)

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