After driving down from the Hayfield Manor in Cork a week ago on Friday, we spent Saturday around the house sorting out a few last minute things for Christmas, and later on that afternoon Claire and Michael arrived down with Jack and Dara. Then Sunday was Christmas day which was a nice day around the house, with Uns doing the Christmas cooking for us, and putting on a delicious meal for everyone. Kitty was over for Christmas, as was Anna and her two children, so a nice day around the house. That evening we headed up to Anthony and Lui's place for a darts competition up there, which I was absolutely hopeless at :(

Monday was Boxing Day / St. Stephen's Day and the weather was amazing - clear blue skies and very mild, especially for December. So Claire, Una, myself and Jack drove over to Inchydoney to walk along the beach and pop in and visit Kitty and Anna who were staying at the hotel there, with a decent view looking out over the sea.

On Tuesday afternoon we drove up to Cork to stay at Claire and Michael's for the night in order to drive up to Dublin first thing on Wednesday morning for Mark and Dee's wedding. For dinner on Tuesday night, Claire and Michael took us into the city to Son of a Bun, who specialise in gourmet burgers and they do them (and chicken wings) exceptionally well - will certainly go back there again next time we're in Cork!

On Wednesday morning the four of us left fairly early and drove up to Dublin, and first stopped by the Hilton Hotel to drop myself and Una off before they headed off to Hag and Jane's place. Once we'd checked into the hotel, we grabbed a coffee downstairs in the bistro and then got ready for the wedding - with a fairly easy walk over to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham for the ceremony and the reception. The wedding was fantastic, dress code was black tie, so everyone was certainly looking the part. After a good ceremony, afternoon and evening in the Great Hall, we returned that night back to the residents bar at the Hilton for a few night caps, and spent the majority of it trying to convince Noel, who was best man, to sing us a song - "Give him a chance lads!"... but no such luck :)

The original plan was then to head back down to Cork on Thursday but I decided to stay an extra night up in Dublin, so after Uns had left with Claire and Michael, I checked out of the hotel and met Noel, Meegs, Donners and Sammon downstairs and we drove into town for a bit of a walk around. After some time in town, we dropped Noel and Megan off at Mark and Dee's place and the rest of us headed over to Simon's house for a bit of an afternoon power nap before the evening. After some sleep and batteries charged, we headed into town for a quick drink at M O'Brien's, then over the road for dinner at Canal Bank Cafe. Once we were all full up on some amazing chicken wings, we made our way to Toners Pub, where Mark and Dee had reserved an area for everyone for the night.

On Friday morning Sammon and I drove down to Cork, with me getting dropped off at Claire and Michael's place and then diving down west with Mike, since Uns and Claire had already gone down on the Thursday afternoon with the boys. That evening, after a fairly relaxing afternoon, myself and Mike headed down into the village for the quiz night at Lil's with Noel and Megan and their crowd.

With Sunday being the 31st and the annual new year's eve fancy dress tradition, I still had no idea on my costume for the night, so Uns and myself dashed off to Clon for some last minute fancy dress shopping for the night - and I decided to go as Prince, to keep it fairly topical from 2016. That evening we made our way down to the village for pre-drinks at Noel and Megan's first and then to Mary Ann's to see the new year in, around the two trees, of course :)

Yesterday was certainly a bit of a struggle to get going at first, but eventually I managed... and Uns and I went for a bit of a spin around the coast in the afternoon, and then down to Lil's that evening with Claire, Michael, Noel and Megan for a couple of new year's day drinks there.

This morning we started off with a fry up at home, packed our bags, said our farewells to everyone and drove up to the airport for our flight which was at 4, getting home by 8 which gave us a few hours this evening to chill out at home before heading back to work again tomorrow morning to kick start the new year...