Hello everyone! I wanted to write to you to let you know about my trip back home over the Christmas holiday.

On the 23rd of December I took a train to Milan to go to the airport, everything was going swimmingly until I sat on the flight. They told us we needed to switch flights and there was a two hour delay. It was really frustrating because my parents drove up to greet me at the airport in Dublin (and I was anxious to see my dogs), but nevertheless, I made it home.

Christmas eve consisted of cuddling my dogs (clearly I really missed them), wrapping presents last minute and watching movies. Every Christmas eve we attend Mass for my granddad’s anniversary (he passed away on Christmas day) and afterwards we meet up with family members and either go to my local pub for drinks or go back to my house for food.

Christmas day we wake up at a reasonable hour and open our presents. Then midday we head off to our aunt’s neighbours house for drinks and a sing-song, which is my favourite part of Christmas Day every year. Then we walked up to my aunt’s house for more drinks (its neverending), then around 4 o’clock we went back home and had our Christmas Dinner, and fell asleep watching a movie after all the chaos and excitement of the day.

The next 12 days either consisted of nights out, daily outings or just resting at home so there’s not that much to report on. All in all it was probably one of my favourite Christmases ever, after the disappointment of the past 2 Christmases (the pandemic and also having Covid) I wouldn’t change anything about it.

After spending 2 weeks with my family, I had to make my way back to Faenza to complete my final month of volunteering (which is so strange to think about and I don’t want to think about what’s next for me :(((), but anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading about my family’s yearly traditions and I hope you had a great Christmas and have a better New Year.

All the best

Fiona