Hello and welcome to this year’s Ireland’s Own Christmas Annual. And what a treat we have in store for you this year! 

As always our Christmas Annual is the biggest production on the year here at Ireland’s Own, and we love beginning our preparations on it in October…by the time Christmas eventually comes around, we are well and truly in the festive zone.

This year Andrea Corr, lead singer with Irish music family sensation The Corrs, shares Christmas memories with us, and also tells us about her new autobiography, Barefoot Pilgrimage. We also catch up with Father Brian D’Arcy, Deirdre Purcell, John Giles, George Furey, Brendan Graham, among others, to find out their memories and messages for Christmas.

Sighle Toibin pays a special family tribute to her late father, the great entertainer, Niall. And Colm Keane recalls the time Adolf Hitler went to see Maureen Potter in panto…and how she lived to tell the tale!

Don Conroy has a special art lesson on how to draw Santa, and Don also has a lovely Christmas short story for you to enjoy.

Michael Lyster is back with a festive column, as well as sports columnist Eddie Ryan, health expert Alex Dobbs, and Thomas Myler tells the story behind the making of the movie ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. We also have special features on Christmas favourites, Gone With the Wind, and Ben Hur.

Larry Gogan charts the history of the Irish Christmas number ones for Ireland’s Own readers, and we remember the great storyteller Eamon Kelly, and take a look at what Christmas meant to him.

Your regular favourites are in there too, with Kitty the Hare, Miss Flanagan, Cassidy Says, pen pals, jokes, Christmas songwords and much more. We have prizes galore to be won with everything from tickets to see Roy Orbison, and this year’s Olympia Panto, to new books and albums which have been released in time for Christmas.

There is too much in our 128 pages to mention here, but please pick up a copy and check it out for yourself…sure Christmas wouldn’t be the same without it! Enjoy the read, stay well and I will look forward to talking to you all again next week.

                                                                                                         Best wishes,

Seán Nolan, Editor, Ireland’s Own