First Stop: Galway

With Christmas day activities behind us, Oige and I jumped into the car for a cross country road trip to Ireland's west coast. Four previous trips and I had yet to see anything north of the Ring of Kerry, including Galway and Connemara National Park. Because holidays last much longer here than in the US, our choice to travel on St. Stephen's Day (the day following Christmas) was the perfect time: No traffic! With extremely narrow roads, limited speed enforcement, and the occasional farm animal crossing, the fewer cars the better. Our first pitstop in Athlone also happened to be Oige's old football stomping grounds while playing for the Athlone Town FC. We passed a closed Brett's Pharmacy, crossed over the River Suck, and stopped next to the water for a quick picnic of turkey sandwiches, Tayto, tea, and Dairy Milk chocolate.

Back in the car, a short drive and we were soon in Galway. Straight to the hotel, which was closed with a sign on the door saying be back at 4pm on Dec. 26th... Strange, so we went into town instead. Living up to the expectations, I was impressed with the beautiful pedestrian streets weaving through the city center decorated with wreaths, lights, and Christmas trees. Luckily we avoided rain, but it was even colder than Dublin had been so we stopped into the pub for a coffee, hot chocolate, and one berry crumble to share. Noticing that not a single hotel, B&B, or guesthouse was open we hoped that the rest of our 4 day trip wouldn't be too difficult as we hadn't booked any lodging before hand.

A short exploration of the Occupy Galway camp was my first personal encounter with an 'Occupy' demonstration. Complete with tents, porta-potties, a kitchen, and surrounded by a pallet fence, this was the full package. Considering the tremendous negative impact of the economic crisis on Ireland's youth, I was actually surprised that the camp wasn't larger. Four o'clock finally rolled around and we arrived to a fully operating hotel. Back into town for a delicious Thai meal at Tamarind and a full night's sleep ahead of another adventure filled car ride tomorrow!

Feasting

The Traditional Irish Kennedy Christmas Dinner:

Begins with sharing Christmas Crackers,

Turkey, Ham, Brussel Sprouts, Parsnips (My absolute favorite dish!), Potatoes, Peas,

and Bread to clean your plate.

Followed by homemade deserts:

Christmas Pudding (a.k.a. Pan Dulce, Fruite Cake, The thing no one ever eats)

Chocolate Meringue, Trifle (a decadent creamy cake like combo), and chocolates

Topped off with:

Cup of coffee or tea, a chat around the table while your incredibly stuffed belly has a chance to realize what just happened, and a minute for your brain to relax before the annual family quiz.

Typically, the teams are as such: The Clare family which consists of Oige's mum, her brother and his four children VS the Kennedy family who is Oige, Oige's dad, and his sisters (one of which was unable to make it back from Fiji this year. Making us all jealous when she skyped to show the incredible view of white sand beaches with crystal clear water outside of her workplace). Guests are filtered in where necessary, but this year things were a bit different. For starters, Stephen, Emma's partner decided that he would be the quiz master. As a seasoned pub quiz patron, I can say that he did a fantastic job, especially having to accommodate both American and European intelligence. In honor of the American presence, Oige and I had our own American Corner Team with which we were able to recruit his 3 year old nephew Noah. Yes, we did have to revert to our youngest member on several occasions: What was given by my sweet love on the 6th day of Christmas? and Which two of Santa's reindeer begin with

the letter C? He turned out to be a very useful teammate! And the third challenging group was Oige's Dad, Mum, and sister Emma. Result? The Kennedys won, the Clares got second and the American Corner dead last. To our credit however, we weren't too far behind in points and to be fair we were playing with 2.5 players...

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning hadfinally arrived!!! Stalkings at our door, gifts from Santa littering the living room and an empty cookie plate next to a half full glass of milk on the mantle were the signs that Santa had visitedus early in the morning. Noah of course was ecstatic and after aquick tutorial on proper aim from Uncle Oige, began calculated terror on any moving thing in the house. Before breaking into the gifts under the tree, we sat down to a festive table to consume quite possibly the best breakfast anyone might imagine: Sausages, bacon, white pudding and eggs, along with a variety of breads, jams, smoked salmon and cheeses and of course, a cup of tea. Halfway through, I had already eaten too much, but who stops eating at Christmas?

True to family tradition, after eating, we headed back into the living room to raid the tree. There was plenty foreveryone, but I can say that I felt extremely spoilt. Already getting TOO much from Santa, I had so many gifts to unwrap from Oige and his family. Noah and I were completely delighted with all our new toys!

And true to Irish tradition, with full bellies and goodies to stuff our empty suitcases, we headed out into the cold and down to the sea. Every Christmas morning, thousands of people, from all parts of the country, take a quick dip into the frigid water. I'm told it's invigorating... I have yet to find out for myself. Lacking my togs (swim suit) and quite frankly the guts, I passed on this custom electing myself the photographer instead. Oige and I split from the family and met his friends at a less crowded area known as the ramps. A popular summer hang out for young swimmers also doubles as a meeting point for those adventurous enough for winter swimming. There were a good amount of takers and after arriving, I actually regretted not getting in. But, there's always next year!

Old McDonald Had a Farm

The first stop on our great 2011 Irish Christmas adventure... The Glenroe Farm. With the North Pole located just miles away from the Kennedy home we couldn't resist the opportunity to take Oige's nephew Noah to visit Santa and his elves. A tad hesitant to enter the dimly lit and kinda creepy dungeon they called Santa's cottage, we completely understood when Noah elected to visit the farm animals first. All the regulars were present - horses, cows, sheep, and pigs - but the favorites were the angry/protective mama donkey and her friendly baby, the hungry pygmy goat who followed us around the edge of its pen eating grass from our hands, Noah's 'Gooster' hens and of course, true to the holiday spirit: the reindeer. (Which, as you can see in the picture, I'm not sure would have the ability to carry Santa any distance. They were the size of a small child!) After exhausting the animal visiting hours we entered into the cottage that would surely be the perfect venue for a Christmas haunted house.

Complete with dark corners and quiet sleigh bell tunes eerily playing in the background, Noah and I held hands as we wandered the tunnels into Santa's lair. With Grandad Dave filming the event, we had a brief meeting with the jolly Santa. Starting off very mum, it only took a reference to his crocodile wellies to get Noah to tell Santa that he was hoping for a fire gun. Instead, Santa gave him a complete tool kit. Unbeknownst to Santa, Noah had been marching around the house all week banging his hammer because "everything was broken and needed to be fixed!" The fire gun didn't come until Christmas morning.

We dodged the typical afternoon rain and had a yummy lunch in one of the pubs back in Dalkey before coming home to enjoy a nice cup of tea: The perfect Irish solution to the chilly temperatures of winter.