Hello and welcome
to this year’s Ireland’s Own Christmas Annual

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas when you see the Ireland’s Own Christmas Annual on the shelves! Once more, we are delighted to bring you our 128-page festive special, and once more we can promise you that there is lots of material in there for all the family to enjoy.

When you consider that our first Christmas edition was published all the way back in 1902, it makes it all the more remarkable that all these years later because of you, the readers, Ireland’s Own remains a hugely popular weekly read in homes across the country and further afield.

We have so much material in this year’s Annual that it is impossible to mention it all here, but the following are just some of the highlights.

Special guests Michael Harding, Margo, Davy Russell, Frances Black, John Spillane, Niamh McAnally and Matilda star ‘Alsiha Weir’ all drop by to share some Christmas memories, while we have many more special thoughts of old Ireland shared in our Just A Memory section. Thomas Myler and Mick Jordan go behind the scenes of Christmas film favourites ‘Mary Poppins’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’ while Mervyn Bryson recalls the man on who Charles Dickens based one of his most famous characters, Ebenezer Scrooge.

Fr. Brian D’Arcy has a warm Christmas message to share, while columnists Mary Kennedy and Michael Lyster share their own thoughts on the season – Maxi chats to two of the stars mentioned above and also pays tribute to the late popular singer songwriter, Kris Kristofferson. 

Thanks to the generosity and kindness of her husband, Gordon Snell, we have a festive short story from the pen of Maeve Binchy for you to enjoy, while there is a treasure trove of other original short stories for you to relax and read by the fireside this Christmas. We also announce the winners of this year’s Ireland’s Own Writing Competition. There are plenty of songs, jokes, puzzles to complete, plus competitions to enter too. 

Your regular favourites are on board with Cassidy Says, Dan Conway, Miss Flanagan, Kitty the Hare, Marjorie’s Kitchen, Catch the Criminal, Stranger Than Fiction Irish ghost stories, The Ballad Sheet Festive Special, Readers’ Letters, the Bookshelf Pages, Thanksgivings, Classified Adverts and more.

Liam Nolan recalls a Christmas Miracle at Sea, while Colm Wallace shares the mysterious disappearance of a postman in Waterford at Christmastime many years ago. Maolsheachlann O Ceallaigh takes us on a festive trip down Memory Lane in Ireland highlighting that happened at Christmastime in this country every year back to 1923. Damian Corless has a brilliant take on a childhood Christmas in the 1960s. There is also a section for children which includes our annual colouring competition plus a chance to win Don Conroy’s beautiful new book on Irish wildlife.

We have all this for you to absorb, plus much much more. I hope that you enjoy our Christmas Annual as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Wishing you and yours a pleasant and peaceful Christmas, from all of us here at Ireland’s Own.

 Best wishes, Seán Nolan, Editor, Ireland’s Own