I love putting up Christmas crib in my home and when my children were young I told them the story of each figure as I placed it in. Now I tell my grandchildren.

This year I have decided to take out the TV from its nook and insert the crib instead. It is a homemade stable made by my husband and the figures were made by a local man in the 1960's from local clay from the banks of the Abha Bhán river in West Limerick.

In fact, some of this clay was used to build the houses in Ballinacurra in Limerick. At night before I go to bed I love to sit in semi-darkness and just gaze at the figures. It fills me with warmth and a sense of love and hope. Wishing you all a happy peaceful contented Christmas.