Rames' in Ireland: The Christmas Tree

I've read that 88% of the population of Ireland is Catholic, so Christmas is not surprisingly a big deal. We were asking some locals where we should find our tree and the answer was pretty unanimous: At the pink house. In our neighbourhood, the pink house is a landmark. Like most direction given by locals, it involves turning at some notable building. In most cases that building is a pub, but in our neighbourhood, the pink house is a landmark. It's not bright pink, but it is probably a turn of the century home of larger size that sits on Booterstown Avenue. We pass it each day on the way to school and it is right across the street from the church and just above the street from Gleeson's Pub. (See how I worked a pub into the directions?) Next to the house itself is a garage that looks older than the house, but about a week ago, the garage was not something you noticed. Then, one day, signs appeared out front and a business opened. There is no name, just some banners and signs and the door to the garage that was once closed is now the entrance to the tree farm in the back garden. It is a very big garden indeed. You can't really see the back gardens of ANY of the homes on this street as all the homes are built right next to each other.

Now, somethings in Ireland don't change. Like smaller stores aren't open early on Sunday and most are actually closed when it isn't the holiday, unless perhaps they are in a mall. At some point between 11AM when Rod and I walked home from church and noon, when we walked back to meet the clan, the doors were open. Lots of trees and business was brisk. We were looking for a tall skinny tree as we have reasonably high ceilings (about 9'), but not much floor space. We weren't disappointed and found our tree. I think it's a noble fir, so nothing unique there.

The unique aspect of this tree shopping adventure was that we got to carry the tree to our house. It's just a 5 minute walk, so we put Rod on the trunk, Joe in the middle, and Grace on the top and we headed down the street. From the looks and smiles, I could see that it wasn't the normal way to get the tree home, but we managed to get it home with smiles still on our faces, although the photographer struggled to get good action shots.

So tree acquired, now what do we do with it. Like most of our activities, we rely on the gracious generosity of our friends or liquidity in our bank account to make things happen. Today was no different. On the way to Dublin, I tried to put my Christmas tree stand in my luggage, but the bucket wouldn't fit. In Ireland, you don't need no stinking bucket. We were informed by our friends that most people just have two pieces of re-bar welded together with a large screw sticking out and you just screw this into the bottom of the tree. Apparently the 3 gallons of water my Redmond tree sucked up wasn't really necessary. We were game, so we borrowed a spare stand. When we got home, Rod screwed it in.

Lights and decorations? Some serious lack of this stuff. We knew we had to get lights and the Irish retailers haven't found it in their hearts to pass on the cheap prices they acquire crappy Chinese lights at. After taking a deep breath, I think we paid 22 Euros for a 20-foot string of lights. For those of you that don't know, in the rafters of our Redmond Garage, we had a 1 and a 1/2-4x8 sheets of plywood stacked with Christmas stuff. Martha loves this time of year and having all our stuff in storage is a sad state. We've received a few decorations from friends, we acquired a few, and then we made some. All in all, the tree looks great.

A tradition in our house (carried on from Martha's family) is to make a decoration each year. These are treasures that chronicle the kids abilities through time. This year's decorations were made out of pop cans and the bottoms to Pringles cans. Inspired by a school project of Rod's to make a Christmas decoration out of recycled material, we did some simple items. I'll get you pictures of Rod's "present" that he made by cutting out, embossing, and folding into a 3-D gift box with a ribbon and bell. It actually won a prize and is being shown at the local equivalent of The Mall of America (Dundrum Shopping Centre). We were a bit less ambitious with 2-D Christmas trees and stars with some painting in fingernail polish by Grace. Martha's "star" for the top is actually a nativity scene in relief made out of a tall boy Heineken can. Here's a selection: