Irish emigrants in New York tell of missing home at Christmas

As an immigrant from the 80's who never returned to Ireland, I'd like to point out that the Internet wasn't an option back then, so emigration today, doesn't exactly 'mirror' what was happening back then. I was in Australia in those pre internet days when Skyping didn't exist and transcontinental phone calls were both expensive and unreliable in quality. Most of our 'news' was a week or two old by the time we heard it, now it's instantaneous. Don't get me wrong, I love this new era and have totally embraced the internet/facebook/Skype/instant messaging, etc etc but emigration in the 80s was Not the same experience as it is now. Nor was emigrating in the 1980s the same as emigrating in the 60s, 50s, 40s, or indeed 1847...just sayin'..

I guess the difference is that the holiday here in the US is very secular and materialistic while in Ireland tends to be more family orientated. They should have realized that when they came over, our job situation here is that we don't have the standing week off like Ireland does or is it did.

Just watched touching videos on RTE online of people returning to Ireland for the holidays. I know my Irish third cousins, five sisters, will be enjoying their traditional family gathering for Christmas dinner on Sunday. We miss the phone call we would get from my cousin's late Dad Tom at the end of their Christmas dinner. What a kind and giving person was the late Cousin Tom.