Living My Irish Dream

A native daughter returns home to America - final column

I’ve been in my native home of the Bronx, New York for almost a week now. I’m not working. I have no obligations besides the social ones.

Yet, this column seems to be the one I’ve had the most difficulty writing.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve known what I’ve had to write about since the day before my flight departed from Dublin, and I've been avoiding the truth that this is my last column.

An American from The Bronx bids farewell to Ireland

Saying goodbye to things isn’t as easy as it looks. Anyone who has ever left home, even for five minutes, will tell you that.

Brown Thomas reminds Dubliners of proud Irish culture this Christmas

There’s something distinctly beautiful about Christmas in Ireland.

While walking down the busy shopping district of Grafton Street, you’re more likely to hear a melancholy pan flute version of "Carrickfergus," or a squeaky busker’s violin solo of "Danny Boy” floating about the cold streets than one of those hackneyed, tiresomely cheerful Christmas songs.

I’ve seen the famed holiday displays in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue, and experienced the madness of a midtown Macy’s run far too close to the big day, but this year, I found myself pausing to take in all of the beauty in this year’s Brown Thomas Christmas window display.