Aisling’s Special Favourites

A few of Aisling Kett’s favourite Christmassy things this fortnight…

Dublin Docklands Christmas Market
Finally, time to use the C word. The lights in town may have been up for weeks but for me the Christmas period does not start until December. The decorations don’t even go up until the eighth. This annual market opens on Thursday 12th and is one of the best with loads of craft and food stalls. It’s always beautiful with a carousel, caroling and fairy lights everywhere. It’s open from 12 during the week and 10 on Saturday and Sunday until 23rd December in the IFSC on George’s Dock. There’s also another big Christmas market in Block B in Smithfield from 13th to 15th December. The Dublin Flea and Block T Christmas Market is back for a third year with over 100 stalls with a mix of clothes, bric-a-brac and lovely food. Great for presents.

thxthxthx
A blog full of thank you notes. This is a project by writer Leah Dieterich who, after being nagged by her mother for years to write thank you notes, started a blog writing daily letters of gratitude. She has finished creating the hand-written thank you notes for the blog but the archive is there for browsing and Dieterich still posts on Twitter (@ttthhhxxx). Some of the notes are funny and some are thought provoking. Sample: ‘Dear Sirens, Thank you for making the neighbourhood dogs howl in concert. It makes me feel like I’m in the wild. Love, Leah.’

Shutterbug Christmas Kilo Sale
A kilo of vintage clothes for €20? I’m not going to say no to that. On Sunday 8th December Kilkenny vintage store Shutterbug host their Christmas Kilo sale in Block B, Smithfield from 12 until seven (probably not a good idea to turn up at six, anything good will be well gone). The event promises rails upon rails of clothes. There will also be a number of pop-up shops including Gild &amp: Cage interior shop and Damn Fine Print poster shop which should be good for Christmas presents. If you’re like me though, you’ll probably just buy a few early presents for yourself.

TEDxDublin
For those who don’t know, TED is a non-profit organisation that promotes ideas worth spreading. They organise conferences that challenge speakers to give ‘the talk of their lives’ in 18 minutes. TEDx are locally organised versions of these conferences. For the Dublin event, 12 speakers will talk on the theme of Big Changes in the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre on 14th December. Tickets are well gone by now but all the videos will be online. There was also a TEDx event in DCU last Saturday in the Helix on the theme of Transforming Lives and Societies. The videos for them both sure to be worth watching.

Aisling Kett

Image Credit: informatique via flickr

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