Nollaig Shona Duit

Happy Christmas

A rollup of Christmas traditions here across the pond. The Irish people claim Christmas as their big holiday. They seem to think that thanksgiving is the big one in the U.S. We have explained there all big over there...

Food:
The one similarity to American thanksgiving is the meal. In ireland the Christmas dinner is similar big deal as Thanksgiving meal.
The typical meal is turkey and ham (boiled not baked), stuffing,  roast vegetables.
For dessert- mince pies, christmas cake, christmas pudding (note mince pies are everywhere, it is one of the signs of the season in grocery stores, coffee shops, etc...)
We found out the other day that it really is ham and turkey not an or. We were at a restaurant where both are served together. A slice of turkey on the bottom, covered by lump of stuffing with a slice of ham on top. Surprisingly good.

TV:
The season starts off with the late late toy show
Then the nation channels fill the season with movies...
From the english neighbours we have Christmas Day specials for Doctor Who (new doctor introduced on Christmas this year) to Downton Abbey.

Jumpers:
Sweaters to americans... It sounds like this is a new old tradition. Christmas jumpers are available in all the stores. We have the classy ones and the ones that are 3D with baubles hanging off. Mine has a scarf and a bauble nose.

Drinking:
In downtown dublin it is the 12 pubs of christmas. this is where everyone wear the aforementioned jumper and try and visit 12  pubs in one night. Drunken mayhem ensues...
Also tis the season for mulled wine.
Egg nog not so much. The only place you would see this is on the starbucks menu as an egg nog latte. otherwise not an Irish thing.

Pantos:
I have heard it is tradition to see a holiday Panto. From wikipedia  pantos are theater style that includes song, dance, slapstick, cross-dressing,jokes. Will let you know, we are set to see one on New Years eve.

Santa Claus:
Obviously his minions and stand ins are here also. The Irish affectionately call him Santy

thats all for now, will see if we learn any other new Irish customs in the coming week

Rob

Irishisms

Things we hear in ireland

Is that alright or are you alright?

       Usually from customer service - banks tellers , store workers,  etc.

       And if it is not alright what is the response...

Ye

       Yes old English for you , how are ye doing 

Me

       For my , I.e. Me bike , me hat , etc..

Hard luck
      used in sports, for a close goal

Well done
       self explanatory

Good lad
       good effort in sports

Off to the jacks

       going to the bathroom

Irish/American dictionary (for the common stuff)

• Rubbish     / trash
• Crisps       / potato chips
• Chips        / French fries
• Bacon       / Irish bacon is more like canadian bacon
• Bin            / trash can
• Lift            / to give a ride in the car or an elevator
• Ride           / this is a family blog people....
• pint             / same word, but just to be clear in ireland a pint is 20 oz or 500ml
• creche         / preschool or afterschool care
• post            / mail  (verb or noun, put it in the post, or post it)
• Craic          / good time or story 

A few more food notes

        bacon as mentioned above is not bacon

        ham and cheese sandwich (cheese is shredded cheese)

        scone, is not a starbucks scone  but quite delish

        coffee is often instant, if not instant it will be an americano

        beans, this typically means beans in tomato sauce, served at breakfast usually

thats all for now

Rob

Christmas traditions

Well we have been told that Christmas is the big holiday here . We are doing our best to uncover the Irish Christmas traditions .

The first one being the late late toy show.

Since atleast the 70s their late late show (think tonight show) has a Christmas special once a year . The host breaks out a special jumper and they have performances by kids, and kids demonstrating different toys .

The audience is all adults dressed in Christmas garb , jumpers , etc..

Crisps part 2

Well as the Facebook readers may know we ran across roast beefy in stout flavor and turkey and stuffing flavor at the store.

We were invited to an expat thanksgiving party yesterday so decided these would make a nice starter.

The roast beef does taste like roast beef actually quite tasty. The turkey and stuffing tastes like a salty stuffing .

Both were pretty good and the audience seem to be split on which was their favorite

Rob