Christmas and Kells

A few years back, my housemate gave me some US vitamins for Christmas (expats may understand why this would be appreciated).

I knew about it in advance and went into OTT spasms of joy and surprise as her two sons looked with expressions wondering if they needed to institutionalize me. My housemate merely smiled.

This Christmas I’ll have to do the same. 

Rick has been perplexed what to get me. He's not a alone. As a person who already has everything she wants and who wants to keep what she has to a minimum, I'm a problem for gift givers.

When I started oohing and ahhing over a book at the Irish Museum about The Book of Kells he offered to buy it. The oohing and ahhing was truly merited with all the descriptions of methods and details.

When I am given gifts I don’t like to know in advance, but I couldn’t resist telling him "yes, yes a 1000x yes." I now have 19 days to practice my surprise when I open it Christmas day..

I had seen an exhibition of the Book of Kells several decades ago. For those that don’t know it is an illuminated manuscript of four gospels in Latin created about 800.

It includes.

·         Magnificent calligraphy

·         Traditional iconography

·         Figures of humans, animals

·         Celtic knots

·         340 folios

Thus Christmas day, after we eat I plan to curl up on my bed and savor each page, each description.