The Christmas Eve 2015 on Oceana was lovely.

There was a classical concert last night with a guitarist Ben Kearsley.The theatre was more than half empty, and optimist would say more than half full,but it was not, more is the pity, as he was good and a lot of the ignoramuses on the ship could do with a bit of culture.Some had the bad manners to walk out when they realized Bach was on the menu.The second half of the evening was devoted to Kristian Grey, a magician.This was not to my liking and none of his Irish charm and banter made any difference.At 6 pm tonight a magical arrival of Santa will happen and no doubt the children will love it as they did on the Queen Victoria last year.And this is what it is all about-giving the kids the time they will always remember.Christmas is for the children,for the magic we stop believing in too soon.My sister was telling me what her little grandson,my godson, had told her-grandma,I don't think father Christmas brings the presents.How can he,with so many children in the world,even with the helpers that he has it just cannot be done.He was 8, a little mathematical genius with straight A's.He had worked it out in his own little head.My sister said - I almost fainted, I thought some clever Dick had been giving the children the benefit of his stupidity.It took all my skills to come up with a believable explanation.He looked at her doubtfully but accepted it as he loves his grandma with all his little heart and believes everything she tells him.And what was it she said to him? That just temporarily, for the Christmas season, so that all the children get presents, there are thousands little helpers to drop off the presents.The magic should be kept alive for as long as the children believe in it.They are the lucky ones.They are the ones with loving parents and caring grandparents and giving godmothers and teachers that make you fall in love with them.My sister's boy [the father of the mathematical genius] had a crush on his first teacher,he adored her and every day came home from schools with the stories how nice she was,how pretty she was.My sister asked him if she was pretty.He looked at her long and hard and said - you can be pretty when you have a nice dress on.And,by the way, the little genius loves foot-ball,several months ago he gave I think 23 goals during a match,we laughed and laughed-did the other side actually have any players ?Was there a goalkeeper on the field? He would like to be a professional footballer and says with his first million he will buy his parents a house and his grandma, granddad and myself will be taken on a luxury holiday to Dubai.Lovely as it sounds I would much rather he earned a living with his quite impressive brain.His younger brother Adam, started school in September and to date has earned 35 straight A's.And my sister says he is absolutely not interested in any sport and is a little introvert, quite happy to mind his own business and expects others to mind their own,just like his godmother.Yes,my little godson,I concur.