What better way to get into the Irish spirit than to celebrate Eire's most famous writer. On December 14, the spirit of James Joyce returns during the American Friends of Joyce annual dinner party (15 Usher's Island; 353/861-57-95-46; www.jamesjoycehouse.com; dinner for two $250). In the grand, 260-year-old, newly restored town house that was once home to two of Joyce's great-aunts and was the inspiration for the author's celebrated Christmas short story, "The Dead," a special dinner re-creates the merriments, from the meal of goose, spiced beef, and hot, flowery potatoes to hearty after-dinner singing and poetry recitals. Guests intent on an accurateand festivereenactment even go so far as to dress in period evening wear.
Philip Watson
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