I ENJOY LOOKING BACK ON CHRISTMAS every year, enjoying memories that revolve around the special season. I rarely spent Christmas in the same place when I lived in the States but this century I've been in Ireland for nearly every Christmas nearly a quarter century, able to walk under the lights of Grafton Street (pictured).
My Christmas traditions have evolved since my days as a teen in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Back then, I would work with my brothers between Christmas and New Years, rotating fresh poinsettias from the family greenhouse to churches, rectories and convents.
We had to empty the greenhouse of Christmas foliage in order to make way for Easter lilies. We used the green company station wagon to run full loads to happy nuns and priests.