CHRISTMAS 2016

adkman

I am looking for Christmas plans. arrive Dublin 12/16, depart 12/27. sick of lonely christmas. is ireland a good choice or should i just stay home. I need to see people. just too damn lonely here after my wife died. 57 years old. IDEAS?

December2012

Are you trying to celebrate Christmas, or ignore it?

Do you think being around people in a hotel will make you feel more or less lonely?

Would you prefer to do charity work and stay busy? Or treat yourself in a hotel?

Grandeeod

Unless you have family or friends here, remember that Ireland completely shuts down on Christmas Day. Either side of Christmas Day, you will find loads to occupy you.

Most people would be caught up in their own Christmases I would imagine and most places shutdown for a day or two.

It will be dark and the weather could be bad.

adkman

December2012 wrote: »

Are you trying to celebrate Christmas, or ignore it?

Do you think being around people in a hotel will make you feel more or less lonely?

Would you prefer to do charity work and stay busy? Or treat yourself in a hotel?

i would love to be arond people and celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandeeod

adkman wrote: »

i would love to be arond people and celebrate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Find a hotel thats doing the christmas thing and book in!

adkman

Deleted User wrote: »

Most people would be caught up in their own Christmases I would imagine and most places shutdown for a day or two.

It will be dark and the weather could be bad.

Sadly it will be darker and much colder here. Plus i live way out in the country, i wont see a car!

Melisandre121

Hi OP, I'm sorry to hear how lonely you've been since you lost your wife. If you want to come over, there are charity events on Christmas day that could be good for you. If memory serves me correctly the RDS host a big Christmas dinner for the homeless, I'm sure they'll be looking for volunteers. I'm not 100% sure but check it out! Best of luck to you.

FizzleSticks

This post has been deleted.

Mr Arrior

OP Good idea to do something to brighten up your Christmas as best you can. Have you tried talking to a professional for your loneliness? This is the exact sort of thing that people would have brushed under the rug in the past. However, not anymore thankfully due to a lot of awareness.

adkman

friendliness here is marvellous.
james madden

adkman

i just posted on Christmas I
think????

Fakediamond

Maybe you check out trip advisor for best Irish hotels for Christmas. As other posters have said, Christmas Day is quiet in Ireland but many people do book into hotels.

If you're in Dublin, as someone else said, you could consider volunteering for the charity Christmas dinner event, great fun and you'll meets loads of people! Depends what you want really.

Keane2baMused

Lots of hotels here do christmas events with music and entertainment.

adkman

keep them coming. i priced a famous castle/hotel and 3 days at christmas = $2000. yipes !!!

Fakediamond

Or maybe a small family run hotel, cosier and friendlier! Do you know Ireland well? Maybe focus on what county you'd like first and do your research from there!

bluetomato

adkman wrote: »

keep them coming. i priced a famous castle/hotel and 3 days at christmas = $2000. yipes !!!

Googled and found this, this article is from a few years ago but saw a news article which showed it was still on last year so I assume it will still be on this year.

http://www.thejournal.ie/christmas-dinner-alone-719760-Dec2012/

orthsquel

Hi Op, do you know that there is a Christmas Forum on here on boards.ie? You'll find it over http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1295
It does appear to be active at the moment, but you may get some great ideas and input for how you can spend your time at Christmas, either by volunteering or where's the best place to stay for atmosphere, or where you can get Christmas dinner or celebrating the days around Christmas.

I do remember either from posts in that forum or here in PI many posters had suggestions in the run up to Christmas about Christmas Dinners that were open to all, and groups or organisations that were hosting Christmas Day for people who were on their own, I think some were based in Dublin, but unfortunately I can't remember what organisations they were, sorry.

Volunteering would definitely be an option, and there is Christmas FM as well that is run by volunteers that starts up in December (Christmas Forum has that info)

JuliusCaesar

I went to a hotel (here in Ireland) for Xmas dinner one year as was away from home, and there were LOADS of people. My problem was that I eat dinner in the evening, and the "proper Christmas dinner" had been served at lunchtime - hotel v apologetic and gave me free glass of wine and free dessert. I don't even like the traditional Christmas dinner!

Lots of widows/widowers do this.

I would also check out MeetUp.com, lots of people doing stuff around Xmas time.

I hope you have a great time, OP! Bring your raingear, though.

(OP: we put the dates day first then month 24.12.16 - 27.12.16)



PS - you could book into a cheap hotel to stay in, and book Christmas dinner in a posh hotel if you liked - just book now as they tend to get booked very early for the dinners. Lots to do in Dublin, and easy to get out of the city to coast or mountains.