Christmas in Ireland

We made it over to Ireland for Christmas 2022! The last time the whole family were together was Christmas 2019 prepandemic. It was so lovely to see everyone again. Since we are a big group (with 5 grandkids) we decided to go to Center Parcs in Longford for 5 days over the Christmas period. That worked out really well. We stayed in two lodges beside each other, around a ten minute walk from the "village". Most of the restaurants there have play areas for kids which is great.

Loads of the activities had booked out super fast unfortunately but my Dad still managed to book the Santa experience for us which worked out really well. Mini was a bit shy and barely answered him but we got some nice photos. They have a lovely spa at Center Parcs in Longford and really big indoor pool. The Christmas decorations around the forest were beautiful. So the whole thing felt really Christmassy.

Pizza night!

Spending time with her cousin

We went to the Jungle Book pantomine in The Gaiety theatre one afternoon and another day we went to a fun fair in Dun Laoghaire. We also met up with several friends and spent time with relations. So nice to see people after 3 years! Unfortunately my sister and her family came down with a bad cold/flu during our trip so there were several days we weren't able to meet. That happened with some of my friends too. Then hubby also got a cold towards the end of our stay. (and myself a few days later!)

Overall though it was a wonderful visit and I felt sad saying goodbye to everyone. Hopefully we'll be able to plan lots more trips over to Ireland this year though!

Dublin over Easter #MicroblogMondays

We finally made it over to Dublin! After two years and four months (due to the pandemic, otherwise we would have travelled many times). There's always something comforting and nostalgic about going there for me. It was so nice to spend time with family and catch up with friends. Hopefully we'll get over there in the Summer again.

5 things I love about Christmas

Spending time with family and friends
Without a doubt, for me the best part of this season is spending quality time with loved ones. Hubby and I typically take turns spending either Christmas or New Years with each other's family and it's always so nice to spend that time together. Considering the fact that I live hundreds of miles and overseas from my family in Ireland, this makes the time we do spend together even more special. Now at some point we will choose to stay at our house in Germany and create new traditions around that but in the meantime we'll be enjoying going back and forth between our relations. 

Creating your own traditions 
I love the fact that everyone can decide for themselves what traditions they would like to uphold. For instance with my family in Ireland we have taken to wearing our silly Christmas jumpers and taking funny pictures. We'll also play games like trivial pursuit or Cluedo and watch Christmas movies. Or maybe we'll spend all morning in our winter pajamas. The nice thing is, anything goes! I've written a bit about our traditions in Ireland versus Germany before.

The food
Ah the food, the glorious food....! Germans don't do mince pies and that's one thing I really miss each year so when we make it over to Ireland we'll go crazy eating them and buying some to bring back to Germany. (Hubby loves them now too!). Heated mince pies in custard or cream are even more delicious. The Christmas dinner itself is also yummy. We typically serve turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, roast vegetables, roast potatoes...And because it's the holidays, there's always an excuse to eat lots and lots of chocolate.

The Christmas spirit
This time of year it's nice to make an extra effort to think of others less fortunate. There are usually collections for Christmas hampers where you can donate food items in the supermarkets and at work. You can give to charities and/or visit your local nursing home. Now of course people can do charitable things all year around but I'm often busy with various things and this time of year really reminds me to stop and do something nice for others. 

Being off work
I like my job but it's still work and it is nice to have time off to relax and regroup! The way Christmas and New Year's fall means you can usually end up with two whole weeks off without having to use up too many of your annual leave. 

Honorary mentions - all the Christmas parties and get-togethers - it's a nice excuse to catch up with friends before the end of the year. Germans celebrate Christmas like no other with their wonderful markets - they are really beautiful.

Those are the first five things that came to mind.. What would make your list? Maybe I'll follow up with the five things I *don't* enjoy about Christmas, haha...

Ireland in August

We recently got back from a two week trip to Ireland. Apart from the usual time spent with family and friends which was wonderful as always, we also managed to do a bit of site seeing! Anyway, just thought I would share a few photos from the holiday.

Tinakilly House and grounds, County Wicklow

Mount Usher gardens, County Wicklow

Dun Laoghaire, County Dublin

Marfield House Hotel and grounds, Wexford

The fairy trail walk on the way to Ballymoney beach, Wexford

Ballymoney beach, County Wexford

Raising a bilingual child

Research on how many words a child should have by a certain age varies. I've read that most (but not all) toddlers can say around 20 words by 18 months and 50 or more by the time they turn two. Apparently by 18 months many toddlers can even link two words together to form mini sentences already. In my facebook group of babies the same age as Mini and there is a huge discrepancy. Some babies are apparently saying as many as 40 words already whereas others aren't saying any.

Many people believe that bilingual children take longer to talk but I've also read that is a myth so I'm not really sure about that! I've read different advice about at what point to worry when your child isn't talking. I only speak English to Mini. Her Dad speaks German to her but when we are all together, our family language is English. She gets plenty of German exposure from daycare and just being out and about.

At her last doctor's checkup I mentioned she was only really saying "mama", "dada" and babbling. The doctor said they aren't concerned here unless the children don't have 20 words by age two. However she then said that some two year olds aren't talking at all but if they show *understanding* of 20 words that's enough.

A few weeks ago Mini started saying "yea/ja" which is very cute. She's still not saying any other new words (she's 16 months) but she does understand a lot and is able to make her wants known using gestures. If I ask her to point out body parts like "nose, mouth, eyes, hair, eyes etc" she's well able to point to them. She does get mixed up though between "where's MY nose?" and "where's YOUR nose?".

If she wants to be picked up she walks over and puts her arms above her head and makes a little noise to get your attention. Or she'll take your hand and pull you over somewhere to play together. She points at doors she wants opened or things she can't reach. She'll gesture at the stair gate in our house and I'll say "oh, do you want to go upstairs?" and she answers "yea".

I'm fascinated seeing how she learns and the associations she makes. Recently, I pointed out a bus to her as we were passing during a walk and she started doing the arm movements for the "wheels on the bus" song! When we feed her, my husband often says "mmm", like "try some broccoli, mmmm, yummy". And now I've noticed she points to food and says "mmm" when she wants to eat.

I'm excited for when she started saying more words and I'm curious about whether they'll be English or German!

A few holiday photos

We are just back from a trip to Dublin. We had a really lovely time visiting family and friends and we loved introducing Mini to everyone. I hope this will be the first trip of many to her "second home"! Loads of people commented on what a happy baby she is and she seemed to enjoy being in a new place. The journey to and from Dublin was stressful though. On the way over we got distracted chatting to some friendly mormons on the train (as you do) and ended up forgetting one of our suitcases! Luckily it was found and we're getting it sent to us now we are back in Germany but when we realised at the time it was too late to go back for it or we would have risked missing our flight. At least it was a fun excuse to go shopping for some new outfits in Dublin!

However, our journey back to Germany was worse. First the flight was delayed almost an hour and a half and then we had to wait ages for the baby car seat to appear on the carousel causing us to then miss our train connection. Of course, Murphy's Law, the subsequent train connections were all delayed but the one we had been aiming for was perfectly punctual. We eventually ended up having to get a taxi home part of the way. By that stage poor Mini was overtired and was getting upset. It's awful when you are in a car and your baby is crying as there is little you can do, especially if you are not in a position to pull over. Distracting her with toys and songs didn't work long but in the end I showed her a cartoon on my phone and it calmed her down! We eventually made it in the door by 1am (we had left Dublin at 5pm) tired but glad to be back. We've decided to try to book flights earlier in the day in future and be more aware of how many bags we have with us!

No visit would be complete without enjoying some scones with butter, jam and cream with my afternoon tea! This was taken at a cute little cafe called The Cake Room in south Dublin.

I love seafood and Irish salmon is really delicious. In a restaurant called Taste in Dublin city centre they served it with sweet potatoes and asparagus.

The last picture is a Sunday roast with a pint of Guinness the GerMann enjoyed in one of the local pubs. I had the cottage pie.

We went to Airfield estate one day. This is a working farm in Dublin with a nice house and grounds with various farm animals. Here are some donkeys being fed. One of them clearly didn't know how to share and helped himself to his pal's food bucket too.

Another day we walked around Sea Point which is a beach in the south of Dublin. It's certainly not the prettiest of beaches. It's quite stoney. However I used to swim there as a child and it's still a really popular swimming area these days. Last time my brother was back in Dublin in December he swam there on Christmas morning which is a tradition for some Dublin people. I've never been brave enough myself as it is absolutely freezing that time of year in the Irish Sea!