These wretched babies don't come until they are ready.

For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first.

These wretched babies don't come until they are ready.

These wretched babies don't come until they are ready.

What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.

The lessons from the peace process are clear; whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load.