Dublin has put on her sparkles and is shimmering in celebration of the cold winter that is beginning to greet her denizens.

There’s a definite cold snap on its way – you can feel the snow coming in your bones. You can also see Christmas around the corner with sales, lights, decorated windows and trees in homes.

I just recently moved to a new apartment with a lovely big living room (two, kind of) so my housemates decided to get active and put up their fake Christmas tree and some lights.

The tree has fake snow already on it which is kind of sparkly on its own. Dave, my housemate, pointed out that when it comes down the scene left behind is akin to the murder of a pixie.

The panoramic living room

Interestingly I’ve done no shopping yet. I know one of the people I have to buy for, and that’s it. Most presents I buy these days are through Kris Kringle events, whereby everyone puts their name into a hat, gets a budget and buys gifts for each other. Only once have I been involved where no budget was involved and it was a disaster. I splashed out on Beats for someone while I got back the equivalent of €10 trinkets. Never again will I get involved where there’s no budget set out…

Shopping is always a problem at Christmas. If I were better organised I would probably have bought everything online a month ago. It’s difficult to buy online now because there’s an inherent risk of not receiving gifts on time! The option of buying in bricks-and-mortar stores is also rough because it’s just so unbelievably busy these days! Though my new apartment is so remarkably central it’s difficult not to find a slot in the day when it’s quiet and run around to buy random gifts.

Grafton Street

I’m not too much of a scrooge. I like Christmas and the holiday time of year. I just hate the people around it. People end up being very narky, cranky and moany at this time of year. Moaning about traffic from your car isn’t productive… considering if you’re in a car you are the traffic. The same goes for queues in shops… you are the queue! Dealing with those people are the real problem from my perspective.