These days are very important in all our lives, as we count down the days to a return to normality.
We are buoyed by the optimism of the news about the vaccines, and at night we think of the scientist and plead for divine intervention so that their inspiration can be all the more fresh every day as they set about creating and testing something that will change the world and the way we look at it.
We will know tomorrow what sort of month lies ahead when the Government unveil whatever is not yet leaked.
And once again, we are being asked for our patience. And once again, we really have little choice but to give it.
What I used to like about Christmas as a child was that for a few days back then, everything and everyone slowed down; they gave a gift of themselves to those around them.
Back then too, requirements were not as advanced.
In the single channel land of the west of Ireland, the fascination with Billy Smarts Christmas Circus, the Pope’s Mass from Rome, the Riordan’s Christmas Special and whatever Maureen Potter and Jack Cruise got up to, filled our minds and heads all day and night, until we turned in with our new fresh-smelling annuals.
Like a genie out of a bottle, it would a hard to create a Christmas full of the wonder that we experienced back then because now our eyes are opened wide with wonder every day and night.
But this year we will be forced to appreciate every visiting moment, every waking greeting, every little gesture so that we can make Christmas as meaningful and enjoyable and responsible as we can.
Our hearts go out to those businesses who are waiting to re-open and are then stalled, to those employees who want to earn a little extra for Christmas, but are denied.
Yet, we can all play some part in easing that pain, by supporting those businesses where our friends work, by helping in whatever way we can to support the businesses that lie at the core of our community.
I am reminded this week of a local business that eighty years ago this weekend started out with just some hope, some enthusiasm and some good people.
And that business has gone on and on and survived a war, and several recessions, but it did so much more for the place around it.
It created a fulcrum of energy for those who liked books.
It became a rite of passage visit when you came to our place; and the family who grew up from the proceeds of that shop have gone on to give so much to their city as well.
In documenting a lifetime of literature, in recording a collection of local history, of being the go-to experts, the Kennys, all of them, deserve to celebrate in a beautiful way this weekend for what they have given to Galway and to the experience of living and working here.
I hope that the business locally that we all support this month and next will go on to mark similar milestones; that they will feel the support of their community and give back just as much in a meitheal meeting of minds in which we look after one another and in the process create better places for us all to live.
Keep your business in your area this Christmas, and by doing this you keep your area in business.
— While sympathies are expressed to all who suffered a sad loss, I would particularly like to express my sadness at the news of the passing of Patricia Carrick this week. To Damien, Ciarán, Ríoghna, Sorcha and Eoin, we salute the great dignity you have all shown in these last precious months with your beloved Trish. I am sure that her goodness and her guidance will be at your shoulder throughout your lives. But in these hard times that you are now enduring, be aware that the collective heart of the city and county is feeling your grief.
