I expect someone else has already sent in something for the 5th. I receive my List a little later as I am on Digest. What is Christmas like in Dublin as compared to say London? Is it celebrated differently in Irish homes? Here in southern NZ in a city still recovering from a major earthquake, our family will be gathering at the seaside home of one of my husband's nieces. The older children will probably spend the morning on the beach swimming and playing in the nearby sand dunes. There will be 2 toddlers to ooh and ahhh over. We will have a cold midday meal, with lots of little festive goodies but mainly cold ham and turkey and salads. Probably icecream for dessert, and slices of watermelon, although if it's not too hot we might just squeeze in a bit of English tradition and have boiled plum pudding with brandy sauce! Then in the evening most of the family will come to our home for a barbecue, sitting on the deck in the late evening sunlight. We won't have a big decorated tree but we will have the house full of flowers and some sparkly christmas decorations, just a bit! This has been a momentous year for me with the sudden discovery of a whole new branch of my WADE family. Instead of just two brothers (who both came to NZ) there were nine siblings. And their father Robert Wentworth WADE was a schoolmaster. So far I've only been able to trace one more of the children, but I do know the married surname of two of the girls and hope to make further discoveries next year. The family were closely involved with St. Catherine Church in Dublin, and although they moved every few years they always stayed in the vicinity. So I can picture the whole family trudging through the snow to Christmas Day service (you do have snow at Christmas?) no doubt in an orderly file, with a schoolmaster father! Thank you very much Cara, Maggie and a couple of other listers for helping with the initial discoveries. I am so very glad I discovered this List. As Julie wrote, > I look forward to hearing accounts of the types of Christmas our Irish relatives might have experienced. Nancy in Christchurch NZ