Christmas in Belfast started at a furious pace.  Youngest Son (YS) picked us up from George Best City Airport and whisked us off to an Asian small-plates restaurant in the centre of town called Yugo.  We had an early, swift and tasty dinner there before zooming off again to traditional Irish bar in the old docklands, The American Bar.  Here, we met up with YS’s future parents-in-law and had a catch-up chat while staying well out of the way of the regulars who seemed very proprietorial about their seats at the bar.

Then we crossed the road to the Dockers Club for a gig by George Houston who was an excellent warm up act for Joshua Burnside.  Both artists were amusing between the enlivening music and they both had songs with interesting lyrics. 

It was a great venue; apparently the gig was sold out but it wasn’t too crowded.  The acoustics were great.  I could make out all the words of the songs as long as I didn’t stand behind the enthusiastic woman who thought she knew them all and thought we’d benefit from bellowing them out.  Plus, the Guiness was creamy and proper.  Seeing a gig in such a lively, functional venue was a real treat.

It was interesting to see YS and his fiancé bumping into several acquaintances and friends.  Belfast is small compared to London where meeting up at a gig would be unlikely unless planned in advance.  It is clear that YS’s partner has a huge network of friendships in Belfast through living in the city through her youth and, now, through her work as an osteopath and as a Pilates and yoga teacher.  It is great to see how settled – and successful – they have become in Belfast.

It was late by the time we got back to their house and Reggie, their one-year-old dog was suffering cabin fever and then overexcitement as we walked in.  Let’s just say he had an unsettled night of whining and moaning….  To be fair, he was very quiet on the other nights of our stay and he has settled down a lot since we last saw him in Spring.  He no longer chews the furniture and stairs – though his history of this remains evident – and he is a very gentle dog whose only anxiety seems to be worry that everyone in his ‘family’ are close by.  I’m looking forward to even more maturity by the next time we visit.

After that exciting first evening, the pace slowed and became very relaxing.  YS loves a bit of technology and he has a huge telly with surround-sound in one room and a (pretty awesome) projector in another.  That meant that while YS and I could watch football in one room, his partner and Jane could watch a stream of Christmas holiday movies in the other.  The latter included Bernard and the Genie which we all watched.  I hadn’t seen it since our sons were very young and was surprised that, amid the hilarity, some bits are amusingly inappropriate for the young. 

We played games.  YS won at HeckMeck as usual but Jane and I were dominant during my first exposure to Articulate!  We had a hoot with that!  I was less good at Jenga 😊

We ventured out to the independent shops in the local Ormeau area primarily to get some very good bread and bagels.  Then, for the first time, we visited Lisburn Road, which also has an attractive range of shops, and picked up sherry and some interesting wine. 

I dipped out of some of the perusal of shops to walk through pleasant but wintery Ormeau Park.  That enabled me to get exercise sufficient to enable conscience-free consumption later

On Christmas Eve we had a lovely walk along the Lagan River and into the woods near the Stanmillis Sluice Gates. 

On Christmas Day we strolled through the Botanical Gardens and past the Queens University Sports Hall.  There is a surprisingly large amount of interesting green space near to the dense but attractive residential housing of Ormeau – much needed with a dog as big and energetic as Reggie.

On Boxing Day, the weather was excellent in the morning and YS insisted that we fulfil what is becoming a tradition when we visit him in Belfast: a sunrise walk on a beach.  Fortunately, its winter so the need to see the sunrise was less demanding on our sleep patterns than in the past. 

We went to Helen’s Bay and Crawfordsburn Country Park and it was empty and gorgeous. 

Fortunately, especially early in our walk, there were few other dogwalkers. Reggie the dog is gradually becoming more manageable with other dogs but he is over-enthusiastic and provokes fuss and bother.  Amusingly, when he gets into a tangle with another dog, YS and his fiancé’s strategy is to run away as fast as possible – not to ignore the problem, but to lure Reggie away promptly.  It sort-of works and some other dog owners found it funny.

YS’s Partner’s Pictures Of Reggie At Helens Bay

Finally, it being Christmas and all, we ate and drank well.  YS had bought a selection of excellent beers with strange names from Boundary Brewing. 

On the food front, a highlight, of course, was the Christmas dinner itself which included YS’s terrific pigs-in-blankets.  We also feasted on a huge selection of local cheese that had been provided by YS’s next door neighbours in gratitude for tolerance in the last 6 months while they built a very substantial extension on the back of their house.  (Hopefully, one day, YS and his fiancé will be able to build an extension too!).  Then, on our last night, YS’s fiancé made a delicious prawn and orzo dish that I will try out at home.

It was a lovely Christmas.  Three years ago, Covid broke the mould of the succession of Christmas get-togethers with all of Jane’s family at our house.  Then, two years ago, we decamped to the Isle of Skye for a small family Christmas with those sons and partners without a baby.  Last year was a relatively small affair at our house with sons and partners that focused on First Grandchild as much as Christmas.  And now we have done Belfast Christmas. 

Next year the plan is to host at our house all three sons and their wives, partners and fiancés plus what will be two grandchildren by then.  It’s only a plan but it is clear that the time for extended 15 to 20-strong family Christmas lunch has, passed for us and, now I have retired and have no work constraints, I can envisage that we may be even more innovative in Christmas location and composition in the future.  Long may that continue.  Lucky us. Happy New Year!