WHILE Christmas is a time for festive cheer and celebration in Limerick, it can also give people an opportunity to reflect on Christmases gone by and the memories they carry with them. Limerick Post reporter Sarah Coleman has been asking the people of Limerick about some of their top Christmas memories over the years.
Siobhán Grimes, AdareÂ
My memories of Limerick at Christmas time have all got to do with the lights. The lights on our own Christmas tree, but also the lights in town. It was a big deal when we came in to see the lights. And when we were a little bit older, and my sister and I had kids, she piled all our kids into the back of her car and took off through Limerick looking at all the lights. We were singing Christmas carols and she was going a tiny bit faster than she thought she was going, when a Guard stopped her. She rolled down the window and he asked “where are you going with all the kids and why are you going that fast?” She apologised and explained that they were just singing and the Guard replied ‘well, just keep the singing down’ and let her off.
Tony McKenna, KillaloeÂ
It’s got to be the street outside Todd’s and walking into the shop. I grew up about 30 miles outside Limerick so that distance as a child seems significantly huge, but you know the moment is getting closer as you drive in. The walk down the steps into Todd’s in the late 70s/ early 80s when I grew up wasn’t just the start of Christmas, it was everything that Christmas encompassed for us as kids. It wasn’t just a shop, it was like an entire winter wonderland. Even recently while I was in the middle of work, I found myself all of a sudden thinking of holding my mum’s hand, walking down those steps and just waiting to see the big guy.
John McGrath, BallysimonÂ
A lot of the chaps around us used to come down to the Milk Market plucking chickens and earning a few bob so to see them doing that was fantastic. My aunt Maggie used to come down with me as well around the old market to pick up a few bits and bobs. And of course, I better mention my own kids as well. I have memories of getting them out of the bed and down to the market, when all they really wanted was to be back at home with all their toys!
Mother and son Eilish and Evan Lloyd, South Circular RoadÂ
My whole life I was told we were never getting a dog and then one day right before Christmas we go downstairs, open all the presents, and our parents handed us a sheet of paper with loads of dogs printed on it. When we turned the page around, we found out we would be picking a dog up in two weeks. I just remember screaming at the top of my lungs, it was the happiest I’d ever been as a child. He’s still with us today, his name is Max and he is a 14 year rescue springer spaniel. I’m just home from Canada as well where I spent the last two and a half years so it’s nice to be back. I love travelling but home is home and there’s no better place to be at Christmas time.