End of December, 2024

2024 has been a year. Traveling, adventures, schoolwork, new friends, and countless little adventures. Christmas isn’t the end, of course, and I’m sure there’ll be more adventures before the year closes out… but here, with Christmas getting closer, it feels like this is the beginning of that wind-down before we close the book on an excellent year.

It starts with the 12 pubs of Christmas, which I learned is really more like the “three or four pubs, then we get bored”, or “As many pubs as we can stand before we realize that all of Dublin, half of Ireland, and a good quarter of the United States appears to be invading every pub”.

Frankly, I was excited for having a plan to hit 12 pubs, and sticking to the idea of grabbing a quick pint at each before moving on… But hey – I’m new to town, and I’m learning the ways of the land. I’ll follow the team’s lead, and then consider sprucing it up on my own later.

From the 12 pubs, we move onward to a cozy home, warm in spite of the cold and drizzly Irish weather outside. Andrea and I have tracked down some clay, and some paint, and are decorating our lovely Christmas tree with some cute homemade ornaments.

She’s being her usual meticulous self, and making a stunningly realistic  sled to hang next to a cute snowman.

I’m being my slightly ridiculous self, and making a “Christmas Octopus” which somehow looks like a frog, as an homage to (and reclamation of) a similar Crappy Christmas Craft that I made years and years back.

Together, we’re making “MBA” letters, alongside a rather adorable little statuette of ourselves, kissing on the rocks of Giant’s Causeway.

Were they high quality? Absolutely not.
Were they adorable and fun? Absolutely yes.