Madam, - Traditional musician Máire Begley's account of the simplicity of a childhood Christmas in West Kerry (Features, December 20th) contrasts starkly with the excess of our Celtic Tiger era celebrations.
Her recollections brought to mind Patrick Kavanagh's poems about the magic and innocence of his childhood Christmases in rural Co Monaghan. Though composed as an adult these were unmistakably visualisations through the eyes of a child.
Perhaps in 2005, when as Ms Begley says, " it's very hard to revere anything. . . or hold on to it as something precious", we could bear in mind Kavanagh's evocation of this time in his poem Advent: "We have tested and tasted too much, lover. Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder". - Yours, etc,
DAVID MARLBOROUGH,
Kenilworth Park,
Dublin 6w.