A‘busybutenjoyable’ timeofyearforFrRoche

THE Christmas period is probably the busiest time of the year for Fr Donal Roche but it’s still the occasion he most looks the most forward to with each passing year.

With vigil masses and carol services taking up much of the build-up to Christmas Day within the Wicklow and Rathnew parishes, Fr Roche expects to finally catch up on a few quiet days once all the festivities have ended.

‘I really enjoy Christmas and the whole build-up. It’s a wonderful time of the year.

‘In recent years, Mass on Christmas Eve has almost taken over from Christmas Mass,’ explained Fr Roche.

‘We have three masses on Christmas Eve in Wicklow town and two in Rathnew and they are all very well attended.

‘ The 5 p.m. mass is almost dangerously full – mainly with families.

‘Parents can get the kids home early and tuck them into bed to wait for the arrival of Santa. Then they have the whole morning on Christmas Day to play with all of their toys. It makes sense if you have youngsters.

‘I know when I was young my family used to attend 7 a.m. Mass on Christmas morning,’ said Fr Roche.

‘Midnight mass on Christmas Eve was too late and by attending early Mass on Christmas morning, we all had the rest of the morning and day to play with whatever presents Santa had brought us.’

After saying Christmas Mass and visiting some of his parishioners, Fr Roche usually spends Christmas with his two sisters.

This year he will be hosting Christmas dinner in Wicklow.

‘Normally I go to one of my sisters houses. This year I said “why don’t we have it in my house for a change?” and they took me up on the offer,’ he said.

‘ I think there will be twelve adults and five children and it’s safe to say I won’t be able to handle all the cooking myself.

‘It will be nice to have everyone coming to Wicklow but I think I may well need some help in the kitchen.

‘We will all muck in and lend a hand but more than likely all I will be good for is pouring out the drinks and cutting up the turkey,’ he said. PARAMEDIC Neil Traynor will be on duty on Christmas Day at Arklow Ambulance Station, but he doesn’t mind as it is ‘part and parcel’ of the job.

Having worked as a paramedic for 16 years, working at Christmas is nothing new for him.

‘I don’t mind working at Christmas and my kids are pretty much grown up now, so it is nice for colleagues with younger children to be home with them. My children at 20, 19 and 15 now and when they were little, I was lucky enough to be able to work around Christmas a lot of years,’ Neil said.

This year, Neil will be on night shift on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.

‘I will be working nights so I still get to spend time with my family. I’ll be visiting the kids early in the day and I’ll have dinner with my girlfriend before I head into work. In previous years I have worked the day and dinner has been eaten by the time I finish, so I prefer it this way,’ he said.

Neil explained that it is like a ‘ lottery’ when it comes to the work roster which also means that there are years he is lucky enough to get Christmas off.

‘When I started this job, I knew what I was getting into so it doesn’t bother me. That said, it is a funny time of the year for different types of call-outs and once we don’t have any grandparents showing the kids how to skateboard and having accidents, then it will all be fine!’