A Christmas card to treasure

 

Those of you that remember Christmas cards may recall the rich colouring that were their hallmark, the vibrant reds and greens standing proudly against a pure white blanket of snow to symbolise joy and happiness throughout the world.

And that was exactly the sentiment that sprang to mind when I was sent this exhilarating Christmas card from Jane Sims, whose grandfather, Finny O’Sullivan, was a superintendent in the Irish Lights depot in Dun Laoghaire.

Printed on a sheet of cream paper, folded in four, the cover features a fingernail-sized, colourless imprint of the Irish Lights’ logo, guaranteed to bring excitement into any child’s heart as she hurriedly tears it from the envelope.

It is the inside, though, that marks what Christmas is all about. A beautiful and heartfelt message conveying Christmas Greetings and ‘Good Wishes’ for the receiver’s happiness in the New Year. One can imagine the old keeper sitting in his sparse kitchen on some isolated rock, wiping a tear away from his eye, which is suddenly caught by the inspiring black and white photo of the Irish Lights tender, SS Granuaile, the lightkeepers’ version of a reindeer and sleigh. This is too much. ‘God bless Santa Claus,’ he whispers, ‘and God bless Irish Lights.’

But then the coup-de-grace. He notices that the folded paper is kept in place by a small green ribbon, lovingly tied in a neat knot. It may be just a small splash of colour but to an old man, eating stale bread on a Christmas morning with people he can barely abide, it means the world.

As a footnote, this particular incarnation of Granuaile was in operation from 1948 to 1970, which fits in very nicely with Finny O’Sullivan’s tenure in Dun Laoghaire.


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