Meet the secret Santas
LOVE THEM or hate them, no Christmas dinner is complete without a portion of brussel sprouts. And it is Roy White’s job to ensure that they taste and look perfect.
“If they are cooked right, then I would describe the brussel sprout as tasting like an explosion in your mouth, full of goodness and vitamins. But you don’t want to over cook them, there is nothing worse,” he stresses.
Roy, who works for the Meade Potato Co, in Navan, Co Meath, has a team of around 20 people taking care the brussel sprouts. They start in September, and every week around a million sprouts will be packed and distributed to all of Ireland’s major supermarkets.
“In Christmas week alone, we would have around 7.5m sprouts passing though our packers. We always cook and taste our very first batch, just to make sure they are good.
“It is essential for us to be happy with the sprouts, then you know your customers will be happy too, especially when you are dealing with such vast quantities,” he explains.
So what is the perfect brussel sprout? Roy says it has to be between 28-36 millimetres in size, circular and a “real lush bright green” colour, without any black spotting on the leaves.
“They have to be consistent in shape and firm too. You wouldn’t want oval-shaped brussel sprouts,” he insists. “It is not so much to do with the smell, it is all to do with their taste and appearance.”
And his favourite way to cook them, Roy laughs loudly: “My special way of cooking brussel sprouts is to get my mum to do them!”
www.meadepotato.com
THIS year alone Santa will receive and reply to around 130,000 letters from Irish children, thanks to all his special helpers at An Post.
The letters start arriving in June, but the “deluge’ happens after Halloween. They will come from all ages — children and adults too — and each will receive a reply, in a hand-written envelope just before Christmas.
“It does put you in the festive spirit and it could not but bring a smile to your face, and even a tear to the eye sometimes too,” says Anna McHugh, who co-ordinates Santa’s helpers.
“The kids are very honest, they are talking to Santa so will put their heart into their letters and drawings. They will tell him about their new baby brother or sister, or the people that have passed away this year. That granny is now in heaven.”
All of Santa’s helpers have noticed that this year children are being less “demanding”. They are asking for fewer presents and are aware of the economic climate. Gone are the days when a letter to Santa would consist of page after page from a toy catalogue.
“They have realised not to be greedy. So instead of asking for 20 things, they might list 20 toys, but only ask for three or four of them,” explains Fergus Purcell, one of Santa’s helpers.
“We have also got the odd letter or two, beautifully written, looking for a man with a nice car. And some women of a certain age, are asking for Daniel Craig to be in their Christmas stocking.”
The traditional toys, like bicycles, prams and dolls are as popular as ever. With older children asking for the latest gadgets, like iPhones and iPads. Fortunately for Santa, there does not seem to be one “must-have” toy this year.
“The one present that all the children ask for is a surprise. They trust Santa to bring them something nice, that is right for them,” says Fergus.
EVERY Christmas Eve, Áine Gleeson sits down with a glass of wine and thinks about all the children around the world putting up their stockings, that she has sewn their names on, waiting for Santa to come. “To date, we have sold 190,000 personalised stockings literally to every country in the world,” explains Áine, from Ennis, Co Clare, who runs Wowwee.ie
“But it is not just a business, there is a lot of sentiment there. You want to get their Christmas stocking right, as it is a keepsake for life.”
Twelve years ago, Áine was “bored’ so decide to embroider her three children’s names onto each of their Christmas stockings. Friends and neighbours were so impressed that they asked her to make their children’s stockings. And a business was born.
“I used to hand stitch every single stocking but then it got so busy that I bought a machine and now I have six machines and seven staff. It is a full-time business, the orders start arriving in June,” she says.
This year, Áine and her team will sew names onto around 50,000 stockings. Not surprisingly, people are very particular about what they actually want embroidered on their stockings, and will put a lot of thought into the font, the style and the colours used.
“We do get people trying to ensure the colours on their stocking will match their sitting room,” she says. “And we do get some rude requests too. But it is all part of the magic of Christmas.
“As soon as a child sees their stocking they know that Santa will be coming, and it is the mystery and wonder of what he is going to put in it. The stocking is always the surprise.”
www.wowwee.ie
THREE YEARS ago Adrian Devane was sitting in his lounge with wife Karen looking at their young daughter’s toys, when they made a life-changing realisation.
“We were surrounded by Spanish speaking Dora, USA-English speaking Barney and we suddenly thought: ‘Why isn’t there something that teaches children Irish?’ So we created Babóg Baby,” explains Adrian, who now runs the company in Moycullen, Co Galway.
Their BB teddy bear is soft and cuddly, but also can speak 33 Irish words. Each button on the bear’s foot, paw, feet or tummy, can be easily pressed to hear words, the Irish for different colours, numbers and shapes.
Within six weeks of launching it, they had sold over 6,000 BB teddy bears and to date have now sold over 30,000. They have just created a Welsh speaking bear, and next year plan to launch a German, Italian and Swedish version.
“I can’t believe how far we have come from sitting on our couch, talking about the toys,” says Adrian. “We are the first Irish speaking toy, the first Welsh speaking toy, it is just great to be the first.”
The secret of their success, Adrain believes, is that their BB teddy bear speaks with a child’s voice, his daughter Robyn’s, which appeals to children. “It has the voice of a three-year-old, which the children love. Parents are happy too, because it is a traditional toy, with no hard bits, that the kids can cuddle but will also educate them,” he explains.
Next summer BB bear will appear in its own Irish-speaking animation series, BB agus Bella, on TG4, which is another first. “We will be the first home-grown Irish animation series. Normally, they are imported and dubbed,” he explains.
www.babogbaby.com
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