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Séasúr a hAon · Litir na NollagSeason One

The Christmas Letter

A family letter from Christmas 2022, found inside a second-hand copy of Bill Cullen’s It’s a Long Way from Penny Apples in a bookshop in Addis Ababa. Daniel has brought it to Dublin and wants to give it back.

28 candles lit2 in the meithealLight a candle

An litirThe letter

We’ll share a few lines. The family will know the rest.

The letter is private, so it will only ever appear in fragments, one line at a time in the weekly updates, with every name taken out. If it’s your family’s, you’ll be able to finish the sentences.

December 2022

Line 1“How are you keeping? I do hope you had a really good time during your Anniversary celebration.”

Line 2 · revealed in a weekly update
Line 3 · revealed in a weekly update

A sketch, not the letter. The real one stays with Daniel, and most of it will never be published.

What we know

Written
December 2022, as a Christmas letter to family.
Tucked inside
A gift copy of It’s a Long Way from Penny Apples, Bill Cullen’s memoir of growing up one of fourteen children in Summerhill, selling fruit, flowers and Christmas decorations on Dublin’s streets.
Found
On the shelf of a second-hand bookshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Now
Back in Dublin, safe with Daniel.

Still a mystery

  • Who wrote it?
  • Who was it for?
  • How did a family’s Christmas end up in Addis Ababa?

Séasúr a hAonSeason One

The story so far

Litir na Nollag · The Christmas Letter

A new update every week, shaped by what the meitheal finds and by Friday’s vote. It could take two weeks or ten: the story ends when the letter is home.

  1. Prologue · Fri 30 Oct

    A Long Way from Addis

    A hand pulls a folded letter from a book on a shelf in Addis Ababa. One question, one candle.

    The back cover of Bill Cullen’s memoir, with a handwritten letter resting on it. The writing is blurred to protect the family.
    The letter, blurred to protect the family. Its lines are revealed one at a time, in the weekly updates.

    A month before moving to Dublin, Daniel bought a second-hand copy of Bill Cullen’s It’s a Long Way from Penny Apples in a bookshop in Addis Ababa. Folded inside was a warm family letter written in December 2022. Someone had given this book as a Christmas present. Daniel has brought it home to Ireland, and he’d like your help to find who it belongs to. Light a candle, and a window lights on the map. One question, one candle.

    What the letter tells us so far

    Its first line“How are you keeping? I do hope you had a really good time during your Anniversary celebration.”

    • It was written on Dublin’s northside, to a couple who had just celebrated their anniversary.
    • The writer had sent them a gift for it: glasses, to drink from. On the phone afterwards, they forgot to ask whether the glasses had arrived in one piece.
    • The writer had recently retired, and had joined a gym. They try, but don’t always manage, to go two or three times a week.
    • Somehow, the letter and the book ended up on a shelf in Addis Ababa, more than 6,000 kilometres away.

    Help us work it out

    1. How does a Christmas letter from Dublin end up in Addis Ababa? Aid workers, missionaries, embassy staff, teachers, a family move? Which of those is most likely, and why?
    2. Where do English books in Addis come from? If you’ve lived there, which shops and markets sell donated or left-behind books?
    3. Which anniversary do you mark with glasses? Crystal is the 15th, but it could be a ruby, a pearl or a golden one. What does that tell us about the couple?
    4. “How are you keeping?” is very Irish. What else in the way it’s written could narrow down who wrote it?

    Talk it through in the discussion

    Talk about the how and the where in the open. If you think you know who, please don’t post names: tell the Keepers on the private tip line. On Friday, everyone votes on which question next week’s update chases.

    Discuss this episode
    Out now
  2. Christmas Eve, 8pm · Thu 24 Dec

    A Candle in the Window

    Light a real candle, post your window, and watch every lit window across Ireland and the world appear on one map.

    In 55 days

Léigh agus pléighRead & discuss

Talk it through, vote on Fridays, and tell the Keepers what you know

What do the titles mean?
Seanchaí
The person whose story this is. In Irish tradition, the seanchaí is the storyteller.
Keeper
A trained volunteer who reads the private tips and is the only one who ever contacts a family, gently and with their consent.
Lamplighter
Anyone who follows a story and lights a candle for it. That’s most of us.
Member
Has an account but hasn’t picked a role for this story yet.
Penny apple
A small thank-you you give a helpful post. The more penny apples, the higher it shows.

Please don’t post names, addresses or guesses about who the family is. If you think you know, use the , which only the Keepers read.

Reading is open to everyone. Sign in or join to start discussions, post and give penny apples.

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Seachtain an scéilHow a week works

You decide what happens next

Dé DomhnaighSunday

The episode drops

A short chapter: what happened, what we learned, and a cliffhanger.

I rith na seachtaineAll week

The meitheal digs in

Tips, records and shares into county groups, parish newsletters and family WhatsApps.

Dé hAoineFriday

You vote

Pick which of two or three leads gets chased next. Daniel follows the winner.

An Domhnach seo chugainnNext Sunday

We report back

Even a dead end, crossed off in public, is progress everyone can see.

The vote steers the story; it never overrides safety. A lead that could put someone at risk never goes to a vote.

Bí sa mheithealJoin the meitheal

Pick the part you’ll play on this story

A meitheal is the old Irish way of working: when it’s your neighbour’s turn, you show up. Roles belong to each story, so you can be a Neighbour here and an Archivist somewhere else.

2Lamplighters
1Posties
1Neighbours
1Archivists
1Sleuths

Newest in the meitheal

  • DanstieAddis Ababa, Ethiopia · Lamplighter
  • DanielDublin · Postie, Neighbour, Archivist, Sleuth

Every role is open to anyone 16 or older. Keepers are the exception: they’re invited and trained, because they’re the only people who ever contact a found person.

Help on this story

Make a free account to follow The Christmas Letter, choose your roles for it, vote on Fridays and send tips. You need to be 16 or older.

Join the meitheal

Already have an account? The same button signs you in.

Ár ngealltanasOur promise

We find people to deliver a message, never to expose them

People drift apart for reasons, sometimes good ones. When someone is found, only a trained Keeper knocks, privately, once. Then the found person chooses, and their answer is final.

The doorstep: four answers, four doors. Every one of them is respected.

Yes, connect usA private introduction between both sides.
Not yetThe story pauses. Their place is kept, like a bookmark.
Tell them I’m wellNo contact, but the searcher learns they’re alive and okay.
NoThe story closes quietly and every lead is deleted.
  • No one is named, pictured or located on this site without their consent.
  • Tips are checked for addresses, phone numbers, Eircodes and names before anyone else sees them.
  • We don’t search for children, or for anyone who may be hiding from someone. Adoption searches are pointed to the Adoption Authority of Ireland’s free Contact Preference Register.
  • The public page shows only what both sides agree to share. “They’ve been found, and they’ve asked for privacy” is still a happy ending.

Is this story about you or your family? You don’t need an account. Tell us privately, and we’ll pause it while a Keeper reads your message.