Living in Ireland: Festival of Trees
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! Before we say goodbye to 2017, I thought I’d share one last holiday-themed post. One of the things I’ve enjoyed or found the most interesting about living in Ireland is seeing how the locals celebrate the various holidays. Ireland doesn’t have the Christmas markets that other European countries are famous for, but it does have plenty of other events for locals (and visitors!) to enjoy. This year a friend invited us to see the Festival of Trees at Christ Church in Bray. Bray is a cute seaside town south of Dublin. It’s one of the farthest points south that you can live from…
Living in Ireland: Christmas in Retail 2017
We are counting down the days until we celebrate our second Christmas living in Ireland! Last year I didn’t know what to expect as far as the holidays go and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everyone – including retailers – really get into the Christmas spirit here. This makes sense given the heavy Catholic influence in Ireland. There is no “buffer holiday” between Halloween and Christmas in Ireland, so the holiday decorations starting going up in early November. As an example of how early festivities start, the tree lighting event in our town was on November 18. Santa arrived on a Harley Davidson (why not?) to turn on…
Living in Ireland: Merry Christmas 2016
Here we are. The eve of Christmas Eve. My kids are busting with excitement! Today, instead of my usual happy list, I thought I’d show you some of my recent Instagram snaps of Christmas lights around Dublin. Plus, a few more random gems for good measure. Seeing Christmas lights makes me so happy. I love how this building in Dublin’s City Centre is lit up in red and green. In the distance in the below picture is the Ha’penny Bridge – a famous pedestrian bridge that crosses over the River Liffey in Dublin. Here’s my girl at the ice skating rink that was set-up near us just for the holidays. She…
