» St. Patrick’s Day

“May The Good Lord… “

Nicole — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:04:34 +0000

Irish Blessing-

‘May the Good Lord take a liking to you… but not too soon!’

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I Told My Son Leprechauns Are Pretend… And Now His Class is Making Leprechaun Traps… Woops!

Nicole — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:00:28 +0000

So I’m The Grinch…

I didn’t mean to be, but I am…

A few weeks ago my son and I read a book before bed about St.Patrick’s Day, and he asked me,

“Mom, are Leprechauns Real?”

My answer, “No sweetheart, they’re not real, they’re pretend.” And he was fine with that and I didn’t think another thing about it. He wasn’t upset or anything. And I didn’t think I was violating any ‘unwritten rules’ of childhood…

So last week a project sheet was sent home in his backpack announcing that all the kindergartners were to make

Leprechaun Traps

at home, and bring them in on St. Patrick’s Day… to try and catch a… Yep, a Leprechaun.

My son and husband have been working on a ‘Trap’ for a few days now. It’s sitting on our Dining Room table.

Now here’s the clincher: I haven’t ruined anything for my son by telling him leprechauns are just pretend because…

wait for it…

His teacher told the class they are real… so my son thinks I’m just misinformed… wrong even.

My son totally thinks Leprechauns are real…

Whew! Thank God for 6-year-olds’ suspension-of-disbelief!

But, just a question: Where is it written that leprechauns qualify for the

‘Yes, they’re real, sweetheart, always BELIEVE’ category…

I wish there was a book.

You Know You’re Irish When…

Nicole — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:08:35 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Everyone!

And I do mean everyone- since everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day.

I’m not blogging from The Dubliner in Downtown DC;

I used to start every St. Patrick’s Day at The Dubliner, my husband always took off work and we’d ride Metro down. An old-fashioned Irish pub is a nice place to be at 10am on St. Patrick’s Day… not too many people, nobody is drunk yet, there are a lot of older people in green sweaters, happy to enjoy a pint of Guinness before the 20-something binge-drinking starts. Ah, the good ol’ days!

I just got this in an email and it’s a good read on this Irish-est of days.

What It Means To Be Irish or Have an Irish Family

1) You will never play professional basketball.

2) You swear very well.

3) At least one of your cousins is a fireman, cop, bar owner, funeral
home owner or holds political office. And you have at least one aunt who is a
nun or uncle who’s a priest.

4) You think you sing very well.

5) You have no idea how to make a long story short!

6) You spent a good portion of your childhood kneeling in prayer.

7) You’re strangely poetic after a few beers.
8) You are, therefore, poetic a lot.

9) Many of your sisters and/or cousins are named Mary, Catherine or
Eileen… and there is at least one member of your family with the full
name of Mary Catherine Eileen.

10) You may not know the words, but that doesn’t stop you from singing.

11) You can’t wait for the other guy to stop talking before you start
talking.

12) You’re not nearly as funny as you think you are …but what you lack in talent, you make up for in frequency.

13) You are genetically incapable of keeping a secret.

14) You have Irish Alzheimer’s … you forget every thing but the
grudges!

15) Your skin’s ability to tan…. not so much.

16) You met your husband/wife/significant
other/accountant/lawyer/landscaper/etc. in a bar/pub.

17) At this very moment, you have at least two relatives who are not
speaking to each other (not fighting, mind you), just
not speaking to each other.