Christmas Morning, Killiney Hill

I spent Christmas Day in Carl's parents' house in Killiney. I was in the general area earlky enough to have time to go up Killiney Hill to play with the new lens. The weather could not have been nicer -- bright sunshine, blue skies, crystal-clear views across Dublin Bay to Howth and beyond. It took a while to get used to the sheer weight of the camera with the wide converter attached, but I spent a hugely enjoyable half hour climbing to the top of the hill and enjoying the views in the company of several other Christmas Morning strollers.

Carl's sister and brother-in-law and their two children, 5 years and fifteen months old respectively, were over from France for a Christmas break, so the children provided the entertainment fro the day -- especially five-year-old Matthieu, who's an inveterate chatterbox. He understands English but chatters away in French virtually non-stop all day. I caught the occasional word which I recognised, but generally speaking it was more a matter of hoping that I was using Yes and No in the appropriate context. Matthieu was the focus when it came to the exchange of presents also, of course. I'm afraid that I took too much heed of the manufacturers of my gifts in terms of their suitability for a five-year-old, so Carl and I were left keeping Matthieu amused while his car garage and road track were put together and played with and his pop-out cardboard farm animals and multiple-piece turtle were assembled (the dinosaur origami was quickly abandoned when I couldn't even manage to fold the very first shape in the instruction book).

This all followed a wonderful fully traditional Christmas lunch (as part of second helpings of which I was actually seen to include one Brussels sprout on my plate), and was followed in turn by an hour's child-free TV viewing as we watched the 25-th anniversary To the Manor born special. A wonderful and hugely enjoyable and successful day came to an end at 10.00 pm.