Hello and happy new year! :) I hope you have all had a jolly good Christmas! We stayed in Sweden this year and I gotta say, there’s an awful lot to be said for not travelling at the busiest time of year! There’s something about chilling in your own home, in front of your own Christmas tree, in your favourite Christmas pj’s, not having a conniption fit about airport queues or missing luggage, or breaking your neck racing around your old hometown trying to meet up with everyone, and buying a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates for all the 17 households you visit on your trip home!

All that being said, it was a very tame Christmas. As we would say in Ireland, it was no craic, meaning not a whole lot of fun. And I’m a woman that needs fun in my life. The baking and the walking and the afternoon teas, and Indiana Jones movies are all well and good, but they’re NO CRAIC, dammit! I’ve pre-warned my husband it will be my last Christmas without craic. I just can’t cope with social activities being planned six months in advance and everyone being booked up during the holidays, and there being no room for SPONTANITETY! There was a couple of evenings when the cabin fever really got to me, and I was pacing the living room, declaring THERE’S NO CRAIC HERE!! I NEED TO HAVE SOME CRAIC BEFORE I CRACK UP!! I live in hope that 2022 will bring LOTS of craic, lots of spontaneity, and a whole lot less pacing in frustration at the lack of craic and spontaneity, haha! ;)

God, feels good to get all that out of my system! Thanks for being there for me! ;) Meanwhile, here are my favourite images of 2021. It’s always exciting for a photographer when a new year begins and you wonder what images you will create during it, so do please watch this space, say hi/hej/hola/howya, and if you would like to book a craic-filled jolly session, mail sandra@sandrajolly.com.

I’ll leave you with this old Irish blessing for 2022…

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

The rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Peace and love xoxo