Happy Happy, Joy Joy!!!

Welcoming in a new year has always been a special night for the Chef and I. We had a few bottles of bubbly iced up for New Years Eve and as we are now settling in to our nice Irish home, we decided to spend an evening alone by the fire (with the children all nestled, asleep in their beds) give Chef the night off and eat the most wonderful 'present' we had received from one of our next door neighbors.

A few evenings ago, our neighbor Eddie stopped over with 3 dozen oysters that he had just picked himself in Clarinbridge (Galway) where is is from. (only a few miles from us).

His gift (which was received with an outburst of joy) was accompanied by a very nice bottle of Hennessy Cognac too. Ron, is really starting to 'feel' the Irishness of people now, and I am thinking he is going to find it much easier to fit in. We introduced him to his first taste of Hot Brandy and he was feeling no pain!

Regarding the bubbly, the Mumm was nice but our favourite still is the Veuve Clicquot!

Happy New Year to all our friends and family,

That is all the WiseWords I have for tonight!

WiseMóna

Wise Movie Review

Changeling (2008)

With the magic of downloading, we were able to watch one of Angelina Jolie's latest movies 'Changeling' a few nights ago. I am a fan of hers (and needless to say so is the Chef - what man would not drool over her) but in this role I had mixed emotions.

She gave an outstanding performance, and no doubt with Clint Eastwood as the director, it was a really heartbreaking rendition of this horrendous true story, but I felt it was 'lacking'.

Angelina played the part of a broken hearted single mother who spent her life looking for her young son that was abducted and possibly even murdered.

What was missing from the storyline, is that Angelina had no one . No husband, no lover, no girl friend, NO FAMILY AT ALL?????

I realise when it comes to sticking to the details of a true story, one does not want to stray far from how it 'really' happened, but in my opinion, there were 2 if not 3 other characters in the plot that could have been allowed to get a little closer to her which would have just pushed the envelope on this emotional story and turned it from an OK, glad I did not shell out 25 euros at the omniplex for it, to a cried myself to sleep that night because I felt the pain she (as a mother) suffered from losing her son.

Just my very humble opinion, hats of to Jolie & Eastwood for the job they did. Wish they had consulted me!!!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today before we ring in a raucous New Year!!!

WiseMóna

Baby oh Baby!

It was bound to happen sooner or later. We finally took the plunge and added a new member to our family! BabyWise (for now, as we are struggling with naming her) arrived late on Christmas Eve from Santa. The children, who had asked for bikes were 'needless to say' overjoyed at the fact that they have a new playmate and have barely noticed the bikes they got from Santa.

As this was our first Christmas in Ireland (since Dad passed away 9 years ago) I was really struggling with getting into the Christmas spirit. No matter where you are (in life) if a parent (or loved one) is buried on Christmas Eve - you just never get over it. You try to put it in the back of your mind, so you can celebrate with your children and partner, but it is always there, in the back of your mind.

This year, I had a horrible dose of the flu the week before Christmas followed by a nice round of bacterial laryngitis's.................things were not looking so great.

But, the great thing about being here at home, is dinner this year was at Mum's, so the pressure to entertain was not on our shoulders.

We ate a lovely dinner, then I did something I have never ever done before. I slept on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. It was pure heaven. We spent the night at Mum's and had a lovely FULL IRISH BREAKFAST to fill our tummies before returning back to Chez Wise on St. Stephens' Day. No shops open here in little Galway. (kind of nice).

The kids have not been seen since, playing with bikes, and tractors and cranes, and baby dolls etc. Rory commented on how glad she was to be in a 'real' home, now that it is filled with toys!

The Chef and I had made a decision to just ask for toys for the children this year. In the past I have always put my foot down and tried to steer everyone in the direction of educational toys or books. This year, I felt that all we had in the house was educational, puzzles or books and they just needed play toys! Thanks to all my family for delivering on that request.

I am wearing earplugs and am laying in wait for the batteries to run out!

A good Christmas was had by all,

That is all the WiseWords I have for now

(BabyWise is asleep on the laptop as I type carefully)

WiseMóna