GO mBEANNAÍ DIA daoibh, hello to everyone as we head into the home straight towards Christmas Day.
Sooooo.... here is your annual reminder of what needs to come out of your turkey-filled gobs this Yule-tide.
You’ve probably seen it in a lot of places so you’ll know that Nollaig shona means Merry Christmas and it’ll be on the lips of Gaels everywhere as they make their way home to the crann Nollag - the Christmas tree; na maisiúcháin - the decorations and na solais - the lights, indoors and outdoors, some of which are so bright they can be seen from space.
The special Christmas atmosphere is beginning you build as you mop the floors and tidy the house to the strains of Enya warbling Oíche Chiúin - Silent Night or An Oíche úd i mBeithil - O Little town of Bethlehem.
Na bronntanais - the presents have all been bought and are sitting alluringly under the tree after Amazon managed to outsource the delivery of parcels to S Claus and his Elves Ltd as a way of getting round the pernicious Northern Ireland Protocol.
With the house reeking of Febreeze, it’s now time to think about the traditional dinner.
Now a lot of people will have moved on from the usual turcaí agus muicfheoil - turkey and ham combo with a trio of potatoes - bruite, rósta, bácáilte - mashed, roast and baked, more and more people are going for vegetarian or vegan options such as Nutty pithivier with watercress and pistachio pesto - although it will be impossible to say this after a glass or two of Schleor.
Indeed, in some households, large amounts of alcohol are consumed to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus – although I don’t remember a flat-top of WKD being mentioned in the Bible.
Others however quite sensibly prefer sú oráiste - orange juice and liomonáid - lemonade to fíon - wine, uisce beatha - whiskey and Jager bombs.
Inevitably, the milseog - dessert has to wait until several hundredweight (does anyone remember the abbreviation cwt?) of Christmas dinner is allowed to settle.
Now depending on the family, you’ll remember a) thit mé i mo chodladh - I fell asleep b) d’amharc mé ar an Bhanríon - I watched the Queen or c) thit muid uilig amach lena chéile - we all fell out with each other.
This year, the Bluffer will be watching a lot of TG4 as he has grown out of The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music.
In fact, the Bluffer can be seen in the film Peter O’Toole - Réalta agus Rógaire on Lá Nollag - Christmas Day at 9.25pm.
I measc na rannpháirtithe - amongst those taking part will be O’Toole’s daughter Kate as well as Brian Blessed, Twiggy and Mary Coughlan.
Such company! And it was so much fun looking back at the famously inebriate O’Toole’s films and interviews.
And it will be great to see again Dermot Somer’s films in which the Irish-speaking eachtraí - adventurer travels to Siberia.
TG4 also has tons of great music programmes, sport and much more.
CUPLA FOCAL
Nollaig shona (nuleeg hunna) - Merry Christmas
an crann Nollag(un cran nullug) - the Christmas tree
na maisiúcháin(na maashookhaan) - the decorations
na solais(ne soleesh) - the lights
Oíche Chiúin (eeha kyooin) - Silent Night
An Oíche úd i mBeithil (un eeha ood i mehil) - O Little town of Bethlehem
Na bronntanais(ne brontinish) - the presents
turcaí agus muicfheoil(turkee agis mwickyawl) - turkey and ham bruite, rósta, bácáilte(britcha, rawsta bacaaltcha) - mashed, roast, baked
sú oráiste(aoo oraashtya) - orange juice
liomonáid(limonaadge) - lemonade fíon(feen) - wine
uisce beatha(ishka baha) - whiskey
milseog (milshawg) - dessert
thit mé i mo chodladh(hitch may i maw khuloo) - I fell asleep
d’amharc mé ar an Bhanríon(dark may er un wareen) - I watched the Queen
thit muid uilig amach lena chéile(hitch midge ilig amakh lena cayla) - we all fell out with each other
I measc na rannpháirtithe(i mask na ranfartcheeha) - amongst those taking part
eachtraí(akhree) - an adventurer
