Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and, if you want my advice, stay away from the shops.
Instead, why not settle down at the fire and listen to the radio? RTÉ Radio 1 has a day of programmes to prepare you for Christmas Day. Highlights include children's letters to Santa Claus, at 3.30pm, carols from St Patrick's Cathedral, at 4pm, and live coverage of Santa setting out from the North Pole, at 5.15pm.
Alternatively, you could kick off the festive gluttony with a trip to Schull, in Co Cork, where Slow Food Ireland is hosting a Christmas Eve market(10am-2pm). You'll be able to buy last-minute presents from the craft stalls, sample the tastes of west Cork and sip a glass of wine.
While many of us pad around the house on Christmas morning, hardy folk around Ireland will be plunging into bitterly cold seas. If you are not brave (or crazy) enough to take part, why not stop by to support them? The charity swimstake place all around Ireland. My local event is at Kilmurrin Cove, in Waterford, in aid of Our Lady's Children's Hospital, in Crumlin.
Another big Christmas Day fundraiser - last year it provided the charity with almost €250,000 - is the Goal Mile, taking place at more than 50 locations on Monday and during the week, including University College Dublin's Belfield campus. See www.goal.ie.
By St Stephen's Day you'll probably be keen to get out of the house again. The tradition of the wren boys is alive and well in, among other places, Carrigaline, Co Cork, which is holding the Wren Boys Street Carnivalon Tuesday. The open-air event includes traditional musicians and dancers.
You could try walking off those Christmas pounds with the 10 Mile Turkey Walkin Annaghdown, Co Galway, in aid of Croí, the heart-disease charity. Call 091-794171 or see www.croi.ie.
Or perhaps you could get away completely and sign up for Go Ireland's New Year Walking Festival, a three-night, €199 trip to Co Kerry that offers, as well as less arduous walks, the chance to climb Carrauntoohil. Accommodation is in the seaside village of Glenbeigh. Call 066-9762094 or see www.govisitireland. com.
It will be a quiet Christmas for members of our provincial rugby teams, as they prepare for major fixtures this week in the Magners League. Munster host Leinsterat Thomond Park on Wednesday; the final match to be played at Lansdowne Roadbefore it is redeveloped is scheduled for New Year's Eve between Leinster and Ulster.
On Wednesday the Irish Film Institute starts screening Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Tom Tykwer's adaptation of Patrick Süskind's novel about an 18th-century apprentice perfumer who becomes a serial killer. See www.irishfilm.ie.
Just when you thought your wallet was finally safe, along comes the post-Christmas horse-racing season. Leopardstown Christmas Festival, at Leopardstown Racecourse, Dublin 18, is one of the most popular events in Irish racing, attracting up to 65,000 turkey-filled punters over four days, from St Stephen's Day. Grandstand tickets cost €16.
On New Year's Eve head for , in Co Kildare, where the highlight of the card is the €25,000 Happy New Year Hurdle.