irishphiladelphia.com

Blackthorn, Cherish the Ladies, Irish Christmas in America–lots of great gifts this week before Christmas.

Quirky music reviewer makes her Irish music choices for 2012.

More Irish Christmas parties and shows this week, an open house at The Irish Center, and George Donaldson of Celtic Thunder will be at The Plough and the Stars–all part of being Irish in Philly.

The Divine Village Rainbow Dancers wowed the crowd at their first Christmas recital with their friends, the Irish Stars Parker School of Irish Dance from Hellertown.

Irish folks packed Tír na nÓg Bar & Grill on Sunday for a benefit to help a small Belfast child with a rare genetic disorder. The grand total: $27,000.

Never visited the Irish Center? Been there before, but it’s been a long time? The most Irish of places in Philadelphia is opening its doors on Sunday for anyone and everyone, for a day filled with music, dance and culture.

The Rainbow Irish Step Dancers, a group of developmentally disabled women, will be holding their Christmas dance recital this weekend–one of 5 Christmas themed Irish events taking place over two days! There’s also a fundraiser for Wee Oscar Knox, visits from the Irish Tenors, poet Dermot Healy, The Jameson Sisters, and much, much more.

Dozens of people stopped by the Irish Immigration Center two weeks ago to donate a glimpse at their genes for a study on the incidence of the Tay-Sachs gene in Irish people. The research project, being done by the Albert Einstein Medical Center, could help prevent this killer of young children in the Irish, who appear to be at high risk.