Midnight mass at 9pm and 6 other very unique Irish Christmas traditions

Deck the halls with madness and folly.

Midnight mass at  9pm For whatever reason, the midnight mass on Christmas Eve has moved forward three hours and is at 9pm in a lot of parishes. We're not sure why it's still called midnight mass to be honest. The twelve pubs of Christmas A relatively new tradition, but no less baffling. We are not sure about the merits of trying to drink in twelve different pubs. Call us old-fashioned, but we'd much prefer sitting in the one pub and not having to keep moving, staggering, stumbling, falling on to the next pub. Christmas Eve busking from some of our biggest stars on Grafton Street Every Christmas Eve for the past few years, the likes of Bono, Glen Hansard, The Coronas and more have busked on Grafton Street in front of hundreds of revelers. It's one of our better traditions and it's all to raise money for a brilliant cause, the Simon Community. Leaving out Guinness for Santy Santa? No, most of us Irish call him Santy. One of our biggest traditions is to help the kids leave out some food and refreshments for Santy and his reindeer for when they arrive on Christmas Eve. Kids like to leave out some mince pies and Guinness for Santy and Rudolph and his co-workers get a few carrots. The big man must have some tolerance for alcohol all the same. Pray for Coffee Rose Every tin of Roses is demolished every Christmas by every family. To a point. The lesser-loved coffee flavoured Rose sweet is left at the bottom of the tin, unwanted and unloved. JOE quite likes them personally, but we realise we are very much the minority. Christmas Morning Swim We are all for charity and raising money for deserving causes, but this particular JOE has to stop the buck here. I couldn't do this, but I have so much respect and admiration for the folks who get up on what is usually a bitterly cold day and who then throw themselves into the freezing waters of the sea and all in the name of charity. Freezing cold kudos to you all. The Christmas Day Hangover from the depths of Hell Usually a bye-product of over indulgence on Christmas Eve. We've been down the local singing songs and hugging strangers and telling them that we love them and all the while consuming a tsunami of alcohol. Christmas Day is usually spent asking people to be quieter when unwrapping presents. Hiding on the corner of the couch with a cushion over your head telling everyone that will listen that you genuinely think you only have minutes left to live.