Goodbye Christmas.....but not quite yet!

 Traditionally Christmas trees are taken down on 6th of January here in Ireland on what is known as "Little Christmas" or "Nollaig na Bán" (Women's Christmas).  However, I'm not ready to see the back of my tree or lights just yet so still have mine up.  It's Sunday the 8th today and am considering taking it down this afternoon - will see!

In this blog I will show you 3 new Christmas ornaments that I added to my tree this year.  All 3 were thoughtful gifts and so appreciated by me.

The first one is this oh so cute wooden ornament that was given to me as part of a larger gift from my sister who had travelled from The Netherlands with her baby for the New Year (having had to cancel Christmas travel arrangements due to Covid).  This ornament means so much to me being a regular cyclist but I love how it connects my sister and I - her living in such a cycling centric country while I cycle in the beginning to change Ireland with a push towards active travel.  As I hang it on my tree in future years, I'll also always have the memory of meeting my sister, her baby and her husband for the first time (again Covid being the reason why we never met before with travel being off the cards for so long and all of the hassle that it entailed when it started again). The baby was a little ball of fun and energy and had us all captivated. I look forward to seeing her again!

The next new Christmas ornament is this sweet crafty one, gifted to me by a colleague. How cute is it?! It's a knitted Frida Kahlo! It's made by "Knitivity" who you can find on Instagram and Etsy. It made a great addition to my tree and encompasses a lot of what I love - including my love of art and handicrafts, As you probably know from having seen past tree blogs, my Christmas tree is full of a brightly coloured eclectic mix of decorations (some might say a little kitsch) so this one fits in perfectly.

And then the next new Christmas ornament is an interesting one. It's a glass boot and there is an interesting back story to it.

This one was also gifted to me by a colleague and I love everything both about it and all that I got involved in through it.

This boot part of the Tyler Hynes Boot Shot Tradition. Tyler Hynes is an actor that has started an annual boot shot event with his fans. It involved a facebook live event where he chatted to fans and answered questions and then everyone joined him in taking a shot of whatever they fancied - he took Whiskey I went with champagne because that was was what I was drinking. It was on the 23rd of Dec and for me it felt like the real start to Christmas as I had just finished work that day and had my Christmas Eve lunch event planned for the next day.

At the time of taking the shot, all participants took a selfie of themselves and then uploaded it to a Tyler Hynes fan page. I was wearing my Key West "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere" Christmas Santa hat for fun!

I loved being part of this event as I love being involved with things like this that connect people all across the globe, with a common interest, through the use of technology (a bit like my sister's "Christmas Portraits" project).

Here's the photo of me just before I did the boot shot. 

Christmas to me is all about traditions, memories and the feelings that are evoked throughout the season. Hanging particular ornaments on my tree always reminds of different things such as travel or people - if you search back on my blog you will see lots of blogs on this subject matter.

Thinking back to my childhood I remember when we were putting up the tree there was always a big clamber to see who would get to hang the favourite decoration which was the "granny on the swing" - my older sister Faith tended to get the honour. The granny on the swing, as far as I can remember, was a not very Christmassy ornament of a plastic white swing with a little old lady sitting on it (again she was plastic).  I must ask my mother about this and see if she can remember the granny on the swing and where it came from!

Hope you had a lovely Christmas where ever you are reading this blog from. Let me know in the comments below and let me know if or when you will take your tree down.

Small pleasures in Winter

Being a warm weather person, I can find the Winter tough to bear. However, I've learnt how I can deal with it best and that is by firstly dressing for the weather.  This one I am still not quite there with, as Irish people we generally don't dress for the weather, barely using umbrellas and certainly not having full water proof gear that perhaps a German or Scandinavian might have - a massive generalisation I know, but I put it down to the fact that Irish weather can be very mild really and who actually needs an umbrella for a "few drops of rain" or a good warm winter coat for a couple of days of really cold weather.

Anyway this week has been particularly cold with an arctic mass bringing temperatures of below minus to Ireland (quite rare here) and icey streets and even a dusting of snow last week which never really defrosted.  This cold weather however for me was actually easier to deal with then a semi mild temp drop. I actually did dig out my padded winter coat and wore it over another jacket (which if temps were mild I may have only wore the jacket and would have been shivering and feeling pretty miserable while out and about) along with a scarf, hat, big warm gloves and also a thinsulate layer which all made me feel very comfortable. So in essence preparation is the key for comfort in Winter......who would have thunk it!

Anyway I digress because the main reason I wanted to write this blog was to explain the other way I get through the Winter season and that is by enjoyng the "small pleasures" that the season brings or that is going on in my day to day life.

These small pleasures include things like really enjoying the lights that people have put up for Christmas in their homes. The other day it was too icey to cycle to the train station so I took the bus to work because the bus stop is only a short walk from my house and even though it was slippy on the paths it was a safer option than on the bike. The bus drops me close to work in Dun Laoghaire but it was an excrutiatingly long journey because the traffic was bad. So on the way home there was a train leaving 10 mins before the bus so I decided to get the train which then leaves me with about a 15 min walk at the other end to get to my house. Well, let me tell you, it was a lovely walk! 

Bitterly cold (I was dressed for that!) but I got to walk past the most beautiful houses in the Dublin 4 area with gorgeous lights and trees - particularly on Waterloo Road. I took photos but the lights came out all blurry so I then just decided to enjoy the atmosphere in the moment and just lap the gorgeous Christmas lights up as I walked home on my own.

Enjoying the trees and lights is something Ciaran and I also do on our walks to Ranelagh or in to the city. Ciaran does it to humour me, I think,  but it does give me great pleasure when he excitedly points out a tree that he particularly likes - we have decided that the best one is on the corner of Winton and Appian Way which has a big bay windown on the 2nd floor that has the most massive gorgeous tree. I love houses with both trees and some additional lights on their railings or stair rails up to the front door but Ciaran seems to prefer just trees. Both of us do love a good Christmas wreath on front doors though and there are lots of them on the classic doors around here in Dublin 6!

And so at this time there have been other small pleasures that I have been enjoying, these include an invite to a neighbour's house for the most delicious hot chocolate spiked with hard liquor - so good! I have also been enjoying warmed mulled wine in "Art Deli" in Ranelagh Arts where PIGSY/Ciaran has work for sale in this Christmas Pop Up. 

And then another "small pleasure" I've been enjoying is eating off the Christmas crockery! I know it's such a small thing but I really do love it all and it gives me such joy.  Check out my crazy Christmas table cloth too.  I like to think it is vintage (its well travelled anyway) having bought it in Cudeca second hand shop in Malaga, Spain and brought it back to Ireland when we returned from our year there.

And then one of the final small pleasures that I am enjoying is my sister Amy's "Christmas Portraits" instagram.  For the past few years friends have been submitting pics to her of themselves and their tree.

Check out "Christmas Portraits" instagram here (what fun!) and you can even submit a picture if you want to be included!

Let me know in the comments below what you are currently enjoying this time of year,,,,,,