Rebel With A Claus

All Hail Santa!

s Saint Jeremiah of Seinfeld very wisely said, the true spirit of Christmas is people being helped by people other than you.

Well, when it comes to Christmas in Greystones this year, those helpful people have put together quite a magical day of festive fun agus frolics as we light up the town.

Click de Pic!

The fact that this is pretty much a brand spanking new Town Team means they’ve had to work extra hard to make this Yuletide particularly bright.

The date is Saturday, November 20th, and the fun begins at 4pm, as the real Santa pops over from his holiday home in Holyhead for a parade through the town, visiting Greystones estates far and wide. The smart thinking being, if lockdown means all the kids can’t head to Burnaby Park to greet Santa, then Santa can take the show on the road and greet them.  We’ll have his exact route as soon as it’s finalised.

Oh, and if you’re down by Sweeney’s in the harbour, they’re giving out free kids’ hot chocolate from 4pm to 5.30pm. HURRAH!

The Man In Red’s tour of Greystones should have him back to Church Road and The Whale for 5.30pm and an all-star party featuring the likes of Dustin The Turkey, TV3’s Anna Daly, Ireland’s Junior Eurovision contender Maiú Levi Lawlor, the Unity Gospel Choir and others, with MC Laura Wood making sure the town’s Christmas love-in doesn’t get too Santa-mental.

The party will be beamed across the world via the wonders of the world wide web, streaming live on greystones.ie’s Instagram and Facebook pages. All leading up to the bould Troy making Greystones with those swanky new lights.

And if you’re a Greystonian celebrating Christmas abroad, you can send in your video greeting to [email protected]. Few tips: film landscape, avoid background noise, ensure that you’re well lit. But not in the drunk sense.

It’s the real thing

Suffice to say, it’s all about coming together to celebrate this wonderful town of ours. And to keep it wonderful, do check out Greystones shops – and our artists – before lazily adding to Jeff Bezos’ gazillions. We’ll be putting together this year’s top recommendations for Christmas presents from around the town this coming weekend.

Or thereabouts.

Richie Power WEDS10NOV21

We met up with Richie Power from the Greystones’ Town Team earlier today, and the very first thing he wanted to do was give a shout-out to not only the great bunch of volunteers who make these Christmas Lights happen every year but also all the local businesses who support the lights so generously every year, with both Cairn Homes and the Meridian going way above and beyond the call of duty for 2021.

The latter will be the place to find this year’s postbox for all your Santa begging letters too.

It takes more than a village to make Greystones’ annual Christmas launch happen every year, and we should all be thankful for those who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make the magic happen. Coming together for the greater good is what the festive season is all about.

Ultimately, of course, it’s also about having a sweet and loving Christmas with our very nearest and dearest.

And our families.

And to get us all in that festive mood, we asked dedicated Christmas tree hugger Richie Power how this year’s jolly holly day came together…