Irish Blessings

   
    It happens to be one of my favorite holidays.  My mom always celebrated her Irish heritage in creative ways and it's something I wanted to continue, but St. Patrick's Day snuck up on me this year. The boys were getting ready for bed last night and Ben suddenly says, "oh yeah, we get to wear our special St Patrick's Day clothes tomorrow". "Umm, what special St. Patrick's Day clothes?", I thought to myself.
   
 When you have to wear a uniform everyday any "special clothes" days are embraced.  Too bad there weren't any St. Patrick's Day clothes in their closet.  Because of the whole uniform thing, I've gotten out of the habit of buying anything other than polo's and khaki's, and so I found myself digging out the freezer paper and craft paint at a late-ish hour of the night when I should have been knitting.  A Leprechaun mustache and a shamrock...

     A leprechaun photo bomb..

     Alan loved his gold.  He snuck it in his lunch box. 

   

     "Who is worth more to you than gold?"  Alan's answer...."Mom".  This from the kid who has yet to spontaneously say "I love you." He added "Ben, Dad, me, Sadie and Bailey" when he got home.  It warms my heart to know he does love me, us, our family, and that he thinks about us during school.  

     After reading about the Hungry Leprechaun that brought potatoes to Ireland, we tucked into our Irish Stew.  It was beef, not lamb, but a good substitute for corned beef and cabbage.  Especially because the kids will actually eat it.

   
      Dean looks a little like a leprechaun Hulk Hogan.  He wasn't wearing green and so he slapped on the 'stache' for fear of being pinched.

   

Shamrock shakes for dessert...

   
     Maybe it's not an authentic celebration.  My Cork ancestors would wonder at the shamrock shakes and the Lucky Charms, but we did talk about where we came from and what that means to us.  We created memories and traditions.
   
     I'll leave you with our Alabama version of an Irish blessing ... May your road to the beach be short, your A/C never broken, and your rain barrel full, and may your mustaches never be crooked (or upside down).