Oisin's 1st American Christmas

I hope these pictures speak for themselves. Oisin had so much fun on his 1st Christmas with his new mum and dad. Mum and Dad had a lot of fun as well.

He went to the boat first. When we took him to Gulf Shores for his 1st trip to the beach, he wanted this boat and I told him no. I'm trying ever so hard not to spoil the little chap. Then, I accomplished a major feat. I managed to buy it without him knowing and keep it hidden until Christmas morning! That was very difficult. You know how inquisitive Leps are.

He really liked the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans bag. He said it wasn't exactly a pot of gold, but you can't eat gold anyway!

As you can see, I think the train is his favorite. He has had so much fun playing with it. Isaac has his trains on the floor and Oisin's stay on the table. It didn't take Oisin long to see that an almost 3 year old boy can be a dangerous thing, no matter how cute and sweet they are!

Tomorrow I have to get back to tatting my Coral Reef doily. I'm half way around the last row. Oisin has promised to help. We'll see how that goes.

And then there is William!

What can I say about William!!

I wonder did you know that William was the start of it all!! If it hadn't been for him non of this would have happened.

Let me explain...
There I was in November 2007 taking part in a Secret Santa exchange (Gina's tatting Goddess) wondering what I could send that was typical of Ireland...no tacky plastic souvenirs which are around in plenty....leprechauns galore there are....... when suddenly I remembered......way way back in 1985....Cork was celebrating the 800th Anniversary of its charter in 1185.

One of the events for Cork800 was an International Girl Guide Camp held in the grounds of Blarney Castle famous for the kissing of the Blarney stone. I went as a leader.

It was a fabulous camp, girls came from all over the world and we all swopped badges, I still have mine and particular remember one from Mobile, Alabama...and now we have Oisin living in Alabama!

Ok I will get to the point of all this....there were lots of Irish crafts to do.. I remember we made a wall hanging of Blarney Castle ....and, and a felt leprechaun.

Now where was he, Oh I remember ...and yes, there he was looking not the most attractive leprechaun I have ever seen...but he had potential and I had the pattern.

Well I couldn't just make one leprechaun...I had to have one for a start!! and soon..well not all that soon there were 6 I think.....and off they went...they didn't even have names....the Secret Santa one one went to Carol L in Pennsylvania and she christened him William, one went to New York to Sherry T. she asked for a name and he became Fergus Og, two went on their way to Mississippi and England and have been VERY quiet and not checked in. Fergal stayed with me and the last little fella went to New Mexico to Bev D in a company of angels....aided and abetted by Sue H. By this time they were demanding names before they left and his was Donnacha..which has been now shortened to Dom.

William checked in as soon as he landed...well he did have to wait until Christmas day to be opened...and he was quite for a bit untill he settled into his surroundings and after that there has been no stopping him....
you know how in most big families there is always one who takes on the task of keeping in touch with all the others ....well that's William.

His mum carol can narrate how William settled in...

I am one of the lucky ones to have received a Leprechaun from Pamela in Ireland. She sent him to me when we had our Secret Santa Exchange. Well, I was reading Pamela's Tats A Kool Challenge Blog, and she wanted all her Leprechaun's to check in. I am happy to report that William is having a grand time in Apollo, Pennsylvania. Let me tell you a little bit about William.

I have named my Leprechaun ,William , and he is my lucky charm. He sits by my computer and watches me while I visit tatting sites. Sometimes he sits and watches me tat too! He is a funny little fellow whom I feel so privileged to have.

I was tatting the other day and had to get up to answer the phone and when I came back, William had started tatting on my motif. He reminded me of the Fairy Tale by the Grimm Brothers "The Elves and the Shoemaker". Maybe William will have the motif done tonight.



Then two days ago, I couldn't find William. I wondered where he had gone off to. I searched high and low for him. Then I heard squeals of delight and you'll never guess where I found him. Did you ever see a ball pit at an amusement park? Well, I found William have a grand time with my thread. He dived right in just like a ball pit, only this was a pit full of thread. I had a heck of a time untangling him from the thread.



Yesterday I found him studying a pattern out of Mark Myers Book "Tatted Gathering of Angels". Maybe that is what he is going to tat for me tonight while I'm in bed.



It wasn't untill the following May that he realised that he wasn't alone in the world...when he suddenly saw a lot of leprechauns who looked exactly (well almost) like him right there in front of him on his mum's computer screen.

William was gobsmacked!! and wanted to know who they were and where they lived. Well you would have done too!!



Watch this blog for further adventures of William when he found out that a new lot of leprechauns had gone off this Christmas to further colonise the world.

This was the reaction of my little fella who had picked the name Fionn for himself (bad choice he was later to find out when baby Fionn arrived!!).

When he saw William on my screen he nearly went ballistic!!








He sure did want to know what was in that book...by cuz Mark! and why didn't we have it, we are getting it, we are!



Hi! from Fergal to all his siblings who are going to have lots of adventures and write lots and lots.

Brendan arrived!

Now Brendan was a bit of an afterthought.....some leprechauns are...like kids ya know!!

Sherry P moved up and down at the top of the list as poor Fergal tried to decide who should have the 5 leps that I had made for this Christmas's exodus to the world....and well she got knocked off the top...as did TattingChic by........and....... who I have known for such a long time and are such good friends.

I was at least 3 leps short for new friends I really wanted to send one to...but they take such a long time to make...and it's particularly hard to make a nice face and that's soooh important.

Well then I read Sherry's blog about how sad she was feeling about Korea and Christmas...that hubby was going to be working on Christmas day and she was going to be alone..........so I can tell you how bad I felt that she had not got her lucky lep.

Out came the lep kit and I spent my day conjuring up Brendan...and his face came out really nice...he is a sweet little fellow....and off he went in the post.

Two weeks later and I was beginning to worry......but finally the little fella turned up in South Korea on Christmas Eve...was I relieved.

(I am sorry that Chic didn't get one this year but lets face it she is such a lucky Chic already!! with all the draws she has won. But Chic you are now at the very top of the list...honest!)

One of the key things to being a lep mum is that you must have a sense of humour...a particular kind of sense of humour....wicked!! ....some may call it childish...I prefer youthful and fun loving!!

Let's allow Sherry to narrate...all the stuff in italics!!

And here is Brendan...Ta da! After such a long trip, I think he was a bit miffed at first to find he had landed in Korea...but he quickly adjusted and is now making friends.



I gave Brendan the run of the house so that he could get himself acquainted. Since Andy was the first face that Brendan saw, he immediately bonded with my giant Leprechaun of a husband. .... Well, Andy is unnaturally lucky AND very mischievous!
I must explain that Andy was the one who collected the package from the post office and opened it!!



Then Brendan saw Chloe. Chloe is a cousin that is visiting for the holidays while her parents are in America.



And being the bold animal lover that he is....he acquainted himself with Chicane! isn't he just gorgeous...Chicane that is..don't make the lep big headed!!



...and he was ecstatic to find my HDT collection....it reminded him of his old home!



He tried out her mini tree for size and liked it....just his size!



....and finally I told him he could give a "shout out" to all his brothers! So...Hi Oisin, Killian, Danny, Cormac, William, and Fionn!
oops she didn't remember that my Fionn had to change his name to Fergal as some baby!! decide to have the same name!!



Doesn't this happy smiling face make it all worth while.

Hi Sherry and Brendan.

Introducing Oisin

Oisin was next to arrive..he had travelled to Alabama and as his new mum put it...

He had already freed himself from his "accomodations" as he was tired and a little breathless. He said he had no idea why it took him so long to get here, but he'd had it with that box!

The first thing that he did was to jump on to Laura's globe and show here where he had come from.....



...she thinks he is very knowledgable about geography....he must have learned that in the lep academy he certainly didn't get it from his mum!! I think he is going to like Alabama as he already said that it was much warmer than where he came from!!

I will let his new mum do the narration.....Then he jumped from the globe to my tree covered in Hallmark miniature ornaments. He love it! They are just the right size for him to play with. I had no idea Leprechauns could move about so quickly. I never actually saw how he moved from place to place except when he jumped from the globe to the tree. I think he must wiggle his nose and "Pop" from place to place.



After that he spotted his "birth" mum's Rainbow Bright thread on my snowflake tree and had to be sure it was being properly displayed. He did give me his approval, thank goodness.



As you can see, he has now found suitable accomodations. He had heard about Southern living and always wanted to see a real log cabin. Now he has one of this own. It is a little small, but according to Oisin it is just right. That is very good because he is just right too! He is the cutest thing and has a string of shamrocks tucked into his belt. I just know we are going to have great adventures together.

Oh my! Oisin sure landed on his feet when he took up residence in Alabama..he has his own piece of real estate!! just look at his house!



Oisin has already started on a course in college but I will leave his new mum to tell you all about that...he is obviously the brainy one of the bunch...so far that is.
Maybe Cormac will go to Uni too and Killian to school...I wonder.

Legend of Oisin in Celtic Mythology

I wanted to share with you a link about Oisin in Celtic Mythology. It is a good read. There is so much available to read about him and it is easy to find if you are interested.

I was going to share some new pictures with you, but I've been interrupted. Will do so later.

Post #1 by Tatskool

Friday, December 26, 2008
It's a Leprechauns life! Part 1.
By Tatskool!
If there are any of my readers who aren't Stark Staring Bonkers...........they should not read on!!

Ok! so the rest of you know that Leprechauns set off from Ireland before Christmas to colonise more of the world. You may not realise that there were 6 and not 5 that left home.

Note!! You may have already seen most of this elsewhere but this is the collected edition!

First to arrive was Danny.

Danny travelled to North Carolina and spent a short while still confined in his packing, until his new mum was told that whatever was in there might need some air....then he was released and not a moment too soon, as Martha said he was lucky that the post had been running ahead of schedule so he had plenty of oxygen left.


Once Danny was released he was Leprechaun with a mission and he headed straight for Martha's stash to reconnoitre.


You can see that he set off on his tippy toes, lets hope by now he has both feet solidly bent up and can stand freely by himself(something I forgot to say in my owners instructions!)
This is what Martha said:

Danny has been exploring his new digs, with much head-shaking at the dust and clutter. Here he is, climbing in the closet shelves. Is he looking for a storage place for his thread, or hoping to add to his own stash? I think I had better keep an eye on him.

He hasn't been heard off since so lets hope he didn't fall in and couldn't get out.
I am sure we all hope that he had a Happy Christmas in his new home.

Next to arrive was Killian ( I think) who travelled to Illinois.


He was straight out of the bag and on to Diane's tatting loaded tree top check it out....and keep an eye on her...Killian also need to get his pointy shoes set firmly on the ground!

he did a good job and managed to get Diane to leave what she was doing and tat.

Killian has been veery quiet since..he must be up to something, hope he enjoyed Christmas.

You may not realise that all these leprechauns are tat trained so they know what it's all about. Where did they learn??? at tat-skool of course!!

The most common complaint that is coming through is that the ******** lucky cent is a ********nuisance and is stopping them, from fulfilling themselves!!

To be honest I never imagined what an active life these little fellas were going to have...I thought they were just going to sit quietly and be lucky!!

In fact my Fergal is asking for a coinotomy..so we shall have to see and maybe future leps will not have such a hindrance.

Cormac arrived in Indiana but had to wait on the doorstep until Gina got home....late!!, luckily some kind person had put him into a plastic bag so at least he didn't get wet..only very cold...so he says!!

He sat up on her webcam and told her all about his old home....mmmmm! thought they had been programmed not to tell...maybe he told fairy tales!!


Then didn't he find a ball of green thread and a Celtic Ring that made a perfect crown. Gina found that in a parking garage and no one claimed it, she intends/intended to give it to her son who loved his visit to Ireland....think again Gina!!!



Cormac already has both feet firmly on the ground and was put to work drawing the winner of Gina's Anniversary blog prize for December.


Cormac has found a friend in Gina's Chris Sockmonkey and they are hanging out in a box of green peanuts...does she think this is what he Cormac eats..oh no obviously not as she has given him a Rainbow candy cane...I am not sure that he eats Rainbows either!!


She hopes these tow get on well together as she says 'Nothing's worse than a bunch of squabbling fiber-filled blokes!'

She did catch them snooping into her Secret Santa box from Melissa J...he is only doing his job Gina!!


Better stop here before you get too tired and go and photograph my Secret Santa package....Will catch up on the other leps another day. they are all such busy bees.
Posted by Tatskool at 12:46 PM 3 comments
Labels: leprechauns