Love was in the air. Tommy Harford, of Crumlin, was going to sing. "Open your heart, my love, let me adore you," he crooned. Some of us suppressed the occasional sob. It was too lovely to bear.
The packed Oak Room of the Mansion House began to sway. "When you lose the one you love," he sang. "I laid my life, my love and all before you/ Joy and sorrow we have the right to share." His partner, Sheila Murphy, smiled with pride.
A great-grandmother, Sheila White (95), of Ballyboden, was there too, attending the Liberties Senior Citizens' Christmas Dinner. It was her fourth year at it. Hanny McCormack (85) was also there, another proud great-grandmother, from her home off Lower Mount Street. Tommy O'Farrell - only a boy in his 50s compared with the good friend beside him, Thomas McDonnell, who was born in 1916 - was also beside her. "This is new life to have a day out like this," said McDonnell, a former coalman who lost his sight some years ago.
John L'Estrange, Maurice Boland and Bernβrd ╙ Murch·, sat in a line near the top, enjoying the view and having a drink to toast the season. The dancing was about to begin.
Alice Bregazzi, supervisor of the Pearse Street day centre, was looking after her troupe. Buses would take everyone home at 10 p.m., said Tony Byrne, organiser of the event, which was entertaining 125 senior citizens. Already Taoiseach Bertie Ahern TD, Gerry Adams, Archbishop Desmond O'Connell and Dr Walton Empey called to wish everyone a Happy Christmas.
Michael Montague, a widower from Crumlin - with a firm grip on the hand of the girlfriend he met a year ago, Joan O'Brien - would perhaps go out for a slow dance later on. Yes, they might take to the floor, said the two, smiling. Christmas was in the air.
Christina Bennett and widows Helen Carroll and Emily McLoughlin, all from different parts of the Liberties, said they were all "young at heart". As to the food - mushroom soup, turkey and ham, roast potatoes, sprouts and carrots, mince pies and McDonald's apple tarts: it was "fantastic", in fact everything was "absolutely fabulous" and "all the girls" were "very obliging", they said. What more could you want?