I almost missed it.

There was a brown envelope on Pádraig’s desk today. Packed. I ask you, what do you do with a packed brown envelope? Make sure no-one else sees it and you’d put it away in a safe place? Or would you ignore it altogether?

I decided to open it.

And inside, inside were five copies, wrapped in protective plastic, of the new Christmas No. 1 CD, Amhrán do Phádraig.

I played it a dozen times and thought that Pádraig was singing along. Is it only just a dream?

I had heard so much about it, had seen the pictures on the website, holding the cover in my hand and listening to the poems, songs, and music was something else.

Even if I wasn’t who I am (and who knows who I am:) I would buy a box of these CDs and give them as a present to all of my family and friends. It’s incredible stuff. Absolutely incredible.

Pádraig was humming along, and it was a sign of things to come.

If there is one thing you’ll be getting for your family and friends this Christmas, make it the Christmas No. 1 album, Amhrán do Phádraig.