by Aoife from Dublin asks Santa about Christmas music, learns about the River Liffey, and hears about the Irish candle-in-the-window tradition
Dear Santa, my name is Aoife and I am nine years old. I live in Dublin, Ireland, where my granda says it rains so often that the sun coming out is treated as a minor public holiday.
Dear Aoife, I have flown through that rain many times, and your granda is not exaggerating even a little.
Santa, I have three questions.
My first question is, do you listen to Christmas music while you work? My mam plays it in the kitchen from the first of December, no exceptions.
I do, constantly, and I fully support your mam’s rule. Music makes wrapping presents feel far less like a chore and far more like a party for one very busy person.
My second question is about our river. My teacher says the whole city grew up around it. Is the River Liffey really that important to Dublin?
It is, Aoife. The River Liffey flows right through the center of Dublin and out into the Irish Sea, and the city has been built along its banks for over a thousand years. From the sleigh, the bridges lit up at Christmas look like a string of lights someone laid gently across the water.
My third question is about the candle. My nana puts a single candle in the window every Christmas Eve and will not explain why properly. Do you know?
I do, and your nana is keeping a beautiful old Irish tradition. A candle in the window on Christmas Eve is meant as a welcome, a small light left burning for any stranger or traveler who might need shelter, harking back to a time when that kindness truly mattered. It is a quiet way of saying everyone is welcome here, and I think that is one of the finest customs on my whole route.
Merry Christmas, Santa.
Your friend,
Aoife Murphy
Dublin, Ireland
P.S. Does Daidí na Nollag get annoyed being compared to you all the time?
Never, Aoife. He simply reminds me that Ireland had excellent taste in visitors long before I arrived.
