Dublin in December

There’s something about this time of year – the dark nights and twinkling lights – that turns me into a tourist. I can’t help it. I’ve acquired quite the library of Christmas pictures on my phone over the past few weeks [mostly Instagrammed], and I thought there’s no better time of the year to share them. For me, the ultimate destination for Christmas lights – in and around Grafton Street. Photo dump commencing …

Regardless of the unseasonably warm December we’ve had, Robert and I went skating at the Point Village. Me on skates is about the only time I can show off my Canadian-ness. I have to say, for an Irish guy, Robert is a much better skater than me. He grew up obsessed with The Mighty Ducks so he roller-bladed throughout his childhood. 

Then there’s the Hole in the Wall pub on the perimeter of the Phoenix Park. They took the term deck the halls pretty literally, and every inch inside is covered in garland and fairy lights …

This photo does it zero justice. If you’re around, I strongly suggest you check out the Hole in the Wall for a well deserved drink after surviving the holiday mania. Speaking of which, I just finished our holiday shopping this morning and am ready to slip into hibernation. I hope you’re all much more organised than me and have been chillaxing for weeks. xx A

The halls are decked, ‘berry style

Christmas has finally settled in our home and we’re on the cusp of enjoying the holidays. I decorated for Christmas back in November for the Sunday Times supplement, and even though our tree’s been up for almost a month, I’m still really happy with it and don’t want to tear it down! Yay! Yet. Maybe because it’s not in our line of sight but behind us when we’re on the couch. It seems a bit anti-social of us, but it’s nice to have the holiday focus evenly dispersed throughout our apartment this year. 
This Christmas I kept it relatively straight forward with the decorations; tree, mantle and a couple of alternative decorations here and there. 

I only got around to properly decorating our mantle this week as last week I basically had the plague and was house-bound for 6 days. That seriously cut into my holiday prep time, but I managed to make up for lost time this week. I picked up this garland from Dunnes Stores and it’s the absolute perfect length for the shelf over our tv. I personalised it by adding some upcycled baubles and a heap of lights. 

Other than that, I took a rather lazy approach to the rest of the decorations. I just hung shit up. 

My favourite being husband’s Christmas sweater and the Star Wars advent calendar that hangs next to his side of the bed. Because let’s face it, no matter what age, all men are basically children. 

We have almost all of our Christmas shopping done and dusted. It just needs to be wrapped, and I love wrapping presents. And let’s be honest, I’m totally one of those people who carefully unwraps presents too. Recycler 4 lyfe. 

Happy Friday, friends! I hope you all have a relatively stress-free weekend before the holidays, and remember, it’s called the Christmas season, so chillax and treat yourself. That’s an order 🙂 xx A

From me and mine to you and yours …

I still can’t believe Christmas is only days away. I’m happy to say all our Christmas shopping is done – well, with the exception of some last minute ingredients for treats I’ll be making over the holidays {like this peppermint chocolate bark by Ketty of French Foodie in Dublin. DROOL}. I got all our shopping done on my lunch hours last week, which means I only had to endure an hour of wading through the retail madness each day. It’s been all go, go, go the last couple of weeks, so I can’t wait to chillax and slow down for a few days.
I only got to take pictures of our Christmassy bits over the weekend. I didn’t go as overboard as I had hoped this year. I did however fancy up some mantle swag by using yarn in my favourite colours, made some tassels and taped them up with clear tape. As you can see, there are no more edible ornaments on the tree. Those suckers were devoured weeks ago. 
And below – we don’t have a fireplace in our apartment {massive sad face}, so husband simply downloaded one for me this year …

So from me and mine to you and yours – I hope you have the happiest of holidays. Don those onesies, get comfortable, and turn on the movie marathons with a box {or six} of chocolates within reach. ‘Tis the season  ðŸ™‚ xx A