Unlike many expats who get so homesick during Christmas period that they fly home to mammy, we decided to spend this Christmas in Ireland, and fully immerse in the Irish ways during both Christmas day and St. Stephen’s day (25th and 26th of December).
And thus it came to pass that on the 26th at 12:30 we were among a large crowd at the Leopardstown Racecourse, trying to make sense of the whole betting frenzy, the bookies’ cries for odds and favourites, the weird names of horses (like Is He Serious, Shoulder To Shoulder, Minestrone Soup, Indian Spring and so on…)
The atmosphere was indeed festive and electric, especially during the last minute of each race - when the horseracing commentator would continuously raise the tone of his voice, building up the tension in the already tensioned crowd. I suppose we could not truly get into the feeling of the race, since we did not place any bets. This was unfortunate, but I’ve seen to many movies with bookies that come after you to break your legs if you don’t pay up! However, horseracing is definitely something to try again!
On Christmas day, my girlfriend and I went to Dun Laoghaire, to witness what is apparently a very popular Irish tradition (perhaps a Dubliner’s tradition is more accurate). It was a gorgeous sunny day, around 6 degrees Celsius - which for Ireland its almost as cold as it gets! Irish men and women of all ages were steeling their health by jumping in the chilly Irish sea, at the place called 40 foot, 
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