St. Patrick's Day

Growing up 100% Dutch in a Dutch community, St. Patrick's Day was usually nothing more than a blip on the calendar where you might think about wearing green--if you happened to remember.  I knew very little about the traditions of St. Patrick's Day (other than green shamrocks and an excuse to drink a lot of beer).  Not much has changed for me over the years.

Emily, however, was much more excited.  She put together a costume and wrapped up a big, green gift to be opened on St. Patrick's Day.  Both she & Lincoln had been eagerly anticipating this event.  Lincoln did the honors and discovered a fun collection of stuff including a card, pipe-cleaner shamrock and other random stuff.

It was all innocent fun fueled by Emily's creativity.  It also didn't involve buying anything or extensive planning and execution by me.  I saw this article shared on Facebook concerning the over-kill on holidays these days.  I couldn't agree more.  I feel like I have become a holiday scrooge, and I think this is one of the reasons why.  At least Emily wasn't expecting chocolate gold coins! (Although she might have mentioned something about looking for leprechauns.)

P.S. I must also admit that I didn't even know the true story of St. Patrick until just recently when the kids were watching a VeggieTales video called "Sumo of the Opera".  I'm glad Emily at least knows the real meaning behind the holiday.