What Christmas means to Patrick Kielty, Dáithí Ó Sé, Bonnie Ryan and more
L-R: Patrick Kielty, Lucy Kennedy and Daithí Ó Sé are among the celebs waxing lyrical about Christmas at their gaffs.
The thing that makes Christmas for me is just having the people I love around me, and it doesn’t really matter where that is.
We’ve lived in America, in England, in Ireland... sometimes you get fixated on a certain thing or place but a lot of the time, the stuff you think is going to make Christmas, is the stuff you aren’t going to remember.
It’s just about being with the people you love.
What always makes Christmas for me, is my little sister Gemma (aged 42 but still little to me!) coming home from New York with my brother-in-law and niece and nephews.
It completes our mad family!
Christmas for me is pudding and brandy butter every night, turkey sandwiches every afternoon, and cheese all day long.
It’s throwing a Baileys into a coffee. It’s buying matching pyjamas for the kids and the dog and sitting down with the whole family every night to watch Agatha Christie adaptations. Magic.
To me, Christmas is family, spending time with loved ones, getting to catch up on what happened during the year.
It’s one of those big occasions that everyone makes the effort for.
I remember so well Santy (not Santa in our house) would come to us when we were young. It really was the most magical time. The excitement and the build-up would start from December 8 when we put up the Christmas tree.
I never thought that I could beat that memory but when Santy comes to [my son] Ógie it just takes my breath away.
The feeling only a Dad (or a mom) can feel. To see the Christmas magic in your son’s eyes is like a fairytale.
I know that at Christmas there are usually lots of traditions and you might have had them your whole life or decades, but I actually think making new traditions really means a lot to me.
I’ve even made a few myself in the last few years. For example, for the last few Christmas Eves, I’ve gone over to Sarah’s [Breen] house and delivered the presents to her and the kids.
Making room for new and old traditions is what Christmas means to me.
Christmas means a lot in my household. I’ve three young kids.
We are not religious but I try to focus on Christmas as a time to relax and spend time together because we are so busy the rest of the year.
I purposely try not to put a huge focus on Santa or the presents. It’s about switching off and our own traditions (on Christmas eve, we have our pyjamas tradition).
Christmas is about hanging out together and making the most of a really quiet time.
Christmas is one of the only times when all my family are guaranteed to come together.
It’s also my birthday on Christmas Eve, so it’s double the whammy and definitely double the fun.
It’s one of my favourite times of the year.
I hate Christmas. The build-up, the present buying, having to spend all this time with people you’ve been running away from for the last year, so I would have to say what makes Christmas for me is St Stephen’s Day, when it’s finally over!
Christmas means Celebrations (the chocolates), fighting over not getting Bounties, card games and hanging out with family and friends.
For me, Christmas means a time to forget about anything else and just focus on quality time with the people that mean the most to me.
It’s refreshing to switch off for a week or so and sit in your pyjamas all day watching Christmas movies sharing around the tin of Quality Street all snuggled up on the couch.
And lots of turkey and ham grilled cheese sandwiches.
Christmas for me is the chaos and joy of all the family being together; Santa for the kids, Kris Kindle for the big ones, card games, sing songs, movies and magic.
I take Christmas very seriously. My family always did, and there were many elaborate family traditions.
I think one of the best sounds in the world is the sudden hush when someone has just unwrapped a book you gave them and can’t help starting to read it immediately.
The second best sound is the knife sliding through cold Christmas pudding leftovers on St Stephen’s Day.
Christmas to me means family and fairy lights – it’s a wonderful time of year when we make the time to be close to those that mean the most to us.
For me, Christmas is all about family. While being based in Waterford a lot throughout the year due to training, I love coming back to Cork for an extended period over Christmas.
Even though we are all adults in our house, we still enjoy unwrapping the surprise gifts and being together as a family.
For me, Christmas is all about family, gorgeous nights out with my girlfriends, cosy nights by the fire eating boxes of chocolates, and playing games with my siblings.
What makes Christmas for me? It has to be putting up the Christmas tree! I loved it as a kid, and now with our own kids it’s brilliant. Can’t beat the smell of a real Christmas tree.
Christmas is all about taking some downtime to be with family.
The thing that makes Christmas for me is my mam’s Christmas pudding. Last year she tried to pass off a shop-bought one as her own but she didn’t get away with it.
This year she made it in November and all the grandchildren got to give it a stir and make a wish. MAGIC.
The family being together with no distractions playing games and of course a big fry-up for Christmas Day breakfast.
For me, it's simple - family, fun and festivities.
Christmas means food, movies and lazing around. For me, it’s a chance to pause and reflect on the past year and take a little break before we get into gear for the next one.
My favourite part is Christmas Eve, when the rest of the house is gone to Mass and it’s just me, the dog, a glowing Christmas tree and an ice-cold glass of white wine.
I love Christmas and getting to live the magic of it through the kids, hanging out with family, catching up with friends, squishing up together on the couch with a trough of sweets and watching the old classic Christmas movies.
I love the tradition with my family around that time of year.
Dinner and games in granny’s, kids opening gifts on Christmas Eve, Guinness with dad and my brother-in-law on Christmas Day.
Christmas means warm coats, hugs, fireplaces, lights, movies, and fuzzy socks.
My family and I have a Christmas Eve tradition to go to Rory Dolans in Woodlawn, New York.
On Christmas morning we each open gifts one at a time, and I love all of the oohs and ahhs at what we’ve gotten.
Christmas epitomises wholesome family time.
Christmas to me means watching my brother, sister and dad do the Christmas Day swim in Emy Lough, Co Monaghan while I stand with my mum drinking mulled wine, commenting on how cold it is.
We usually go away for Christmas which I love because we can escape the commercial aspect that can sometimes be draining in the run-up to Christmas.
We go for lovely meals, play games, have some adventures and enjoy spending time with family and friends.
And reading. I always read a lot of books in that lovely twilight week between Christmas and New Year's.
My absolute favourite is watching the kids’ faces when Santa has come on Christmas morning.
Christmas for me has become a time when I wind down and take a much-needed break.
I used to go away at Christmas and escape to the sun but now I like to stay at home, spend it with family and relax.
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