BIG INTERVIEWS: Well-known Tipperary people on their most memorable Christmases

Bestselling author and Nenagh native, Donal Ryan, always had very traditional Christmases. According to him, he is one of those writers who had an “idyllic childhood”.

“Our Christmases were very traditional, filled with all of the expected things: cribs, Santa Claus, huge festive meals; and it all felt like magic. I loved every single aspect of Christmas as a child. I’m one of those weird writers who had an idyllic childhood,” Donal says.

“All the bad stuff bided its time until I was old enough to deal with it so the world, especially at Christmas, looked perfect to me.”

This year, Christmas will be different for Donal as his mother passed away earlier this year. But he’ll always find a way to honour the woman who was the pillar of his family.

“My mother was the heart of all of our Christmases, so it will feel strange without her. Her spirit will never leave us, though. We’ll still feel the warmth of her love and will celebrate the season with her in our hearts,” he says fondly.

Donal believes his most memorable Christmas has not happened just yet - although, it’s about to.

“I’ll definitely remember Christmas day this year because I plan on jumping into Lough Derg at Youghal Quay with my nephew, Christopher, and dozen of others from my home parish.”

This year, Tipperary native and former Munster rugby player, Ben Healy, is looking forward to spending the day with family.

“I plan on spending Christmas with my family, hopefully my wider family as well. They’ll come over for Christmas Day. They’re coming over to Scotland, I’m in Edinburgh,” he says.

Speaking of his most memorable Christmas, he recalls: “My favourite thing was just calling down for presents in the morning. I remember getting a toy tractor, I loved tractors when I was younger. That’s probably my favourite Christmas memory.”

What writer and coach, Margaret O’Brien, prefers at Christmas is the anticipation.

The Carrick-on-Suir native recalls: “I remember waking up in a house where we lived in Fiddler’s Island and feeling the rustle of packages at the foot of my bed and the Christmas stocking hanging there, all bulging with odd shapes. There's that delicious feeling of anticipation.”

“I can’t remember what was in the stocking, but I have a clear memory, almost a physical memory of that lovely warm sense of anticipation of what was to come and it just is so, such a magical feeling,” Margaret smiles.

Last Christmas, Tipperary hurler, Ronan Maher, spent the festivities in New Zealand with his girlfriend.

“That was probably up there with one of the best Christmases now, it was a bit different than unusual. That probably has been one of the most memorable ones for me,” he says.

Although this year, Ronan will be back to the usual Christmas plan.

“We gather with three or four different families on the coast and get together for Christmas Day and we’ll cook up a big feast, with turkey and ham. We spend a couple of hours there together and then just go back home again. That’s how we spend every Christmas and we should be doing the same again this year. We’ll have a few cousins over there and we’ll cook up some scones and enjoy the day,” he explains.

Dr Alan Moore, secretary of Hedgerows Ireland and former psychiatrist, also had a memorable time in New Zealand.

“We spent a year in New Zealand in 2003, and we went swimming in the middle of the summer, at a wonderful place called Island Bay, near where we lived. It was an extraordinary novelty to go swimming in beautiful summer sunshine in the amazing country that is New Zealand. We were very lucky,” Alan recalls.

To look back on his earliest memories, he had to take a trip down memory lane.

“My earliest Christmas memories are waking up with the weight of the Christmas stocking across my legs and the excitement of opening presents in the dark in the bedroom I shared with my four brothers,” he says.

For Kilsheelan musician, Smythy aka Andrew Smyth, Christmas brings a feeling of nostalgia.

“When I was very young, I remember hearing Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney. I thought it was the coolest song ever, and I remember hearing that synth line, I thought it was so interesting and rad, and every time I hear it now, it kind of brings me back to that time,” he says.

“It always gives me that nostalgic feeling now, which I think is what we think of as like a Christmassy feeling, nostalgia.”

When asked about his favourite Christmas memory, Andrew can’t help but take us back to his snowboarding days.

“I was about eight or nine, Santa brought me a snowboard game that you could plug in. It actually came with a real snowboard that you could plug in to your television. You’d play the game while standing on the snowboard, moving with your feet. I remember my family playing out the game as well, like fully grown adults on this tiny little snowboard,” he laughs.

“I remember it so fondly because, you know, it was all my family making fools of themselves and I think that’s what Christmas is about.”