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Uncle, I Say, Uncle!

I love a reason to party as much as the next guy...gal...human being. I love holidays like Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Independence and Pioneer Days, even Halloween has grown on me thanks to my children. I enjoy the days off school for Labor and Memorial Days, as well as President's Day and Martin Luther King Day, which we celebrated this year by watching his inspiring "I Have a Dream Speech." It was meaningful and we had a meaningful discussion with our children. I usually celebrate the new year quietly at home. Valentine's Day is sometimes a simple hug and "I love you's" to the people I love. This year we happened to go all out and had a formal candle light dinner with complete table settings for the family and I put notes on everyone's door every morning for the week before Valentine's Day. It was great. Will I do it again, absolutely! Will it be an annual tradition, not likely. If it works into our schedule and is something to look forward to then I will do it. If it is "one more thing to do" that week and something that will cause more stress than fun then I will most definitely not do it. There is no pressure either way. I love traditions and we have lots of them. But if it is something that does not bring meaning and joy to my life and to the lives of my people, then it can be altered, or skipped.

This brings me to a most obscure "holiday" that is gaining increasingly more expectations--St. Patrick's Day. Not even the banks close on St. Patrick's Day and the schools should be so wrapped up in the Common Core that they shouldn't have time to acknowledge it. When I was a kid we wore green. Period. You got pinched if you didn't. As I grew older and my kids were young, St. Patrick's Day would come and go without even a thought. Now we have competitions at school to have the best green outfit, we make leprechaun traps, intentionally make messes and blame it on leprechauns, leave gold coins, paint shamrocks and pots of gold on our faces and eat green food. Lest anyone get the idea that I am completely bah humbug, I have made my share of green pancakes, Irish stew and soda bread and green frosted sugar cookies. Today, in fact, I'm planning on making shamrock shaped sandwiches, potato soup and grasshopper ice cream pie. Simple. Festive. My own choice. No pressure.

Estelle spent all of Saturday afternoon making a leprechaun trap complete with a small Barbie bedecked with a green dress that she made herself. Her beauty would lure the poor chap into the trap. She included treats and shiny gold objects and lots and lots of green things. It was creative and kept her busy for hours. Cute. Well last night, St. Patrick's Day eve came and she wanted to stay up all night so she could trap the leprechaun. Emma had a brilliant idea! She made a comfortable bed with a pillow wrapped in green felt so that the leprechaun would want to fall asleep then in the morning Estelle could tip toe into the family room and trap the sleeping fellow. Thankfully, Estelle agreed. Well, he left a note thanking her for the treats and place to rest, but better luck next time in trapping him. He was so thankful for the hospitality that he decided not to make a mess of the place. Brilliant on my part. The magic was kept alive, her hard work was not completely in vain and as Sarah put it, "at least he came."

 Estelle was so excited and stressed out last night that she had a hard time going to sleep. She was excited about the trap, but worried that the leprechaun would make a mess of her legos. I assured her that there would be no leprechaun messes in this house. I'm not sure who decided that that is what leprechaun's do, but I would like to lock them up. I clean up messes all day every day, why on earth would I make a mess myself just to blame it on a leprechaun?! Seriously! How about leprechauns cleaning up messes? We also had to spend some time on Sunday afternoon planning out award winning outfits. Emma even died a mustache green.

The girls looked awfully cute this morning; luckily painting shamrocks and pots of gold on cheeks requires minimal skills. We rounded up enough green articles of clothing to please them all and we made it out the door on time sans green breakfast food, maybe next year. At this point I can't decide if I should embrace the new holiday expectations or rebel against them; but something tells me that as long as Estelle is living under this roof there will be lots of embracing of all things fun and festive.


Location: Saratoga Springs Saratoga Springs

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 20, 2014 at 3:58 PM

    I totally agree with you! It feels like one more thing to do. Keep it simple or don't do it!

    ReplyDelete

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