LITTLE CHRISTMAS The excitement of seeing new faces visit our small farm was over, as relations and neighbours stopped calling. I felt lonesome for the red-berried holly and the crib packed away with the brass candlesticks; the cosy atmosphere of coloured crepe paper decorations, cards and posters depicting Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year, placed in old shoe boxes. Letters that came with parcels from America were put aside for acknowledgement. Waiting another twelve months for Christmas cake, plum pudding and the extra groceries from Murray's shop, and the local Co-op, made time seem infinite. -- Leitrim-born Mary Guckian, "The Road to Gowel," Swan Press Dublin (2000).