A Merry Christmas to all our readers

Amy's second Christmas already, and she's beginning to get an idea that something special is happening. She already met Santa - one of her new favourite words, when he popped into the playgroup Christmas party, although she was too shy to sit on his knee or get her own present.

She has quite a vocabulary now, but her two most favourite words are Pierre and baa! Pierre is the name we gave to a glove puppet which came from France (thanks Jasmine and family,) and goes everywhere with her. Baa being the noise her second favourite toy, a lamb (thanks Matthew, Adele and family) makes, and easier to say than Larry, although she is now managing 'Arry!

We just had a pre-Christmas long weekend in Ireland with Donna's mum who's here for six weeks. It rained.  These outdoor photos were taken during the first

few hours after we arrived, in Cobh (pronounced cove) just outside Cork, and the last port of call for the Titanic (it was called Queenstown at the time.) We drove up to Cashel, stopping off at Tipperary on the way - it wasn't far! We popped up to Roscrea to meet up with Father Cook who used to be the priest in Dannevirke NZ, then headed back south. Alas the rugged beauty of the ring of Kerry remained shrouded in mist and low cloud. At least weren't held up by the swarms of tourist coaches that clog the roads in summer.