Life & Style

‘I would like to wake up at Christmas to find a sweet trail leading down the stairs’

While Christmas is all about the kids, there are a few little touches they would like us to do differently

Christmas wishes: Belle Brechin, Evie Smith, Sonny Byrne, JJ Mc Loughlin, Faolán Ó Murchú-Toner and Finn Smith. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

Alanna Gallagher's face
Alanna Gallagher
Tue Nov 28 2017 - 06:00

Can we please have snow, asks Faolán Ó Murchú-Toner, aged 7½
"It should always snow so that I can have a snowball fight with my father using snowball cannons. I'd like to come in an army tank and just blow it all up. Dad's going to get trashed. The snow should be the size of a house and everywhere, on the pavements and on the roof. How would I stay warm? Artic gear with fur around the edges."

Stick to tradition, says JJ McLoughlin, aged 10
"In my house my presents are usually left in my mother's room or in my auntie's room. I would like the presents to be set under the tree in the traditional way instead. If feels good inside to be traditional. Santa always wraps my presents and I take off all the sticky tape very carefully never tearing the wrapping paper. Tearing it means you just don't care about, the present and I like to hold the excitement inside rather than letting it all go at once."

Make Christmas even better by adding some of the best bits from other holidays, suggests Sonny Byrne, aged 10
"I love Christmas. But every Easter I go to my grandmother Mimi's house in Co Donegal and on Easter Sunday morning I wake up to a trail of sweets, leading from my bed, across the bedroom, and all the way down the stairs. Some of the sweets take the shapes of arrows to help direct me to where the Easter bunny has hidden my Easter eggs. I can eat the evidence as I go downstairs, collecting some of them in my pyjama top as there are too many to hold in my hands and I can't eat them all in one go.

“I would like to wake up on Christmas morning to find a sweet trail just like that leading down the stairs and then forking in two; with one trail taking me to where Santa has left my presents and the other, meaning more sweets, taking me to my stocking where there will be more sweets, an orange and other geegaws.”

READ MORE

What kind of sweets? “Mini Maoam mini bars, Maoam Pinballs, millions of Millions and Jaw Breakers.”

I wish Santa could stay a while, says Belle Brechin, aged 11
"I wish Santa could stay a while so that he could still be there when I wake up and open my presents and so I could say thank you to him. Like Faolán, I would like it to snow because I like snow, especially when you roll it in a ball and throw it at people. My number one target would be my big brother Brodie, who is aged 13.

“Why? I don’t know.

“If I was in charge I would put my parents’ presents at the end of their bed so that they would be the first thing they see when they wake up. My presents are usually left under the tree except when they’re too big. Last year I got a beam – I do gymnastics – and it was put under the window.”

If your friends were there it would be perfect, says Finn Smith, aged 12 (a twin to Evie)
"I love the fact that my entire family is together on Christmas Day but I would love it if my close family friends could also be at my house. It's already a fun, friendly occasion – but you're restricted on your own as to what you can play so, say you get new football boots and a new ball, unless you have a brother to play with or a sister that plays football you have to wait days to see your friends and hang out. If your friends were there it would be perfect."

Our presents aren't wrapped. I would love it it they were, says Evie Smith, age 12 (Finn's elder twin)
"There is very little I would change about Christmas. I love the way we get to see my grandparents on my dad's side and all my cousins. I love Christmas dinner. Everything tastes delicious. I love being around the table all cosy in my pyjamas, cracking jokes.

“Me and my twin Finn used to share a bedroom but since last year Finn moved up to the attic room. However, on Christmas Eve he spends the night in my room, because it’s nearer to the presents, so that we can go down together to see what we got.

“We don’t get stockings. They used to hang at the bottom of the bed when we shared a room and we would look at them before going downstairs.

“Our presents aren’t wrapped. I would love it it they were so I could delight in tearing the wrapping asunder – it’s a different approach to JJ’s.”

Pet hates

JJ: "Itchy Christmas jumpers, dry turkey and mince pies."

Finn: "The fact that I'm not allowed to open my presents until about two hours after I arrive at my grandparents. Every year the suspense kills me. They could have gotten me socks or they could have gotten me a PS4."

Faolán: "Most of things on my dinner plate I don't like but I love the home-made chips."

Sonny: "There's nothing I don't like. I love the roast. It's amazing. I even love the broccoli."

Evie: "I really hate Christmas cake. Why? It just tastes weird. I don't like mince pies either."

Belle: "We usually go to my cousin's house for Christmas Day and they always have sprouts. Sometimes they make me eat them. When you bite into them it really doesn't taste good. They're gross. Yueghhhh."

Christmas