Unaware of his scrutiny, Gwen laughs. "Okay, but it's going to take some work. It's Nollaig Shona Duit." The words roll off her tongue easily, although they sound utterly foreign. "It translates to 'Happy Christmas to you' and it's a sort of greeting and farewell all in one, so...you say it when you come in," she waved her hand toward them, and then back, "and you say it when you leave. And," she cautioned, "if you are saying it to a group of people, you say, Nollaig Shona Daoibh because it's plural."

It's fun, sharing a little bit of what makes her family special, here, she realized; and more so because Webster seemed genuinely interested. "OKay, now you have to try it, so I'll sound it out. Nollaig," and she said it like no-lig, "and then Shona," and this she said like ho-nuh, "and finally Duit." It was the trickiest of the three, pronounced ghwich. "Don't try and read it and then say it, because it totally does not match what it sounds like. Gaelic, I swear, was invented just to mess with people." She'd slowed, without realizing it, so she could concentrate on teaching him the words, slowly but surely.