St. Patrick’s Day in our House

Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day! So, join in the fun and celebrate the day, if not to honor the Irish, then do it just because you and your family deserve to have fun and enjoy each other! There is just something so liberating about an Irish get-together that makes everything feel so festive whether it’s listening to the wild fiddles, consuming green libations, acting carefree and wearing green from head to toe. If you are not loosening up on St. Patrick’s Day, then I think maybe there is something wrong with you!

Jim and I were both raised in Quincy, MA, me into a large Irish family (I am 1 of 8 kids) and Jim into a smaller family (he’s 1 of 4). I am of Irish decent, 3^rd generation. On my mother’s side, my grandmother, Nana Kelly, came to Boston from Dublin at 11 years old in 1912. This was just a couple of weeks after the Titanic sank. I often wondered if they had heard about the tragedy before boarding. How scary and how desperate they must have been for a new life. My dad’s family came from County Tyrone just over the Northern Ireland border. I don’t know much about their journey across the pond, when or why. I did a genetic ancestry kit and found out that I am 100% Irish (they don’t differentiate between Ireland and the North). Jim was surprised to find he had quite a mash-up of backgrounds, with the major contributors being English and Italian with a sprinkle of… you guessed it – Irish!

I grew up with lots of drunken Irish songs to end the nights when my parents would have friends and family over. I knew once the sound of their really bad singing voices wailing “Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ra” wafted up to my room that it would not be long before the night closed with “Danny Boy”. Only then I knew I could finally take the pillow off my head and get some sleep. Even though we raised our own family in the “Irish Riviera” which the South Shore of Boston is fondly known as, those Irish songs from my childhood were lost to me long ago as that generation has now all gone. I’m sure that my kids and grandkids are better off for not having to listen to me sing “Molly Malone” or “Whiskey in a Jar” anyway.

Jim and I have traveled to Ireland once and hope to get back many more times. It is one of the most beautiful landscapes and the most peaceful of the countries we have traveled to. We will write about that trip on a blog post as well soon. Once the grandchildren are at ages where a family trip is feasible, we would love to take them all.

We do our best to keep the spirit of my ancestors alive by getting the kids and grandkids together for boiled dinner, shenanigans and playing Irish music on Pandora, as it is much kinder on the ears than my out of tune voice. The kids get excited to see all the colorful food and treats that we have for them. They dress in their finest green, usually matching tee-shirts because why not, and dance to the lively music that they only hear this one day each year.

For the kids – I try to make the food options for the kids as fun and theme worthy as possible. I’ve had some misses over the years such as when I tried to dye macaroni and cheese green – I wouldn’t have eaten it, never mind the kids! Let’s just say it did not a turn a pretty green.

Think of using some food options that are naturally green, such as:

• avocado
• edamame
• sugar snap peas
• spinach wraps
• kiwi
• pickles
• broccoli
• green apples
• spinach wraps

If you want to dye some foods, use ones that will still be appealing if they are green, like:

• pancakes
• pasta.

Making a rainbow fruit and vegetable tray with each fruit/veg representing a color of the rainbow, with mini marshmallows for the cloud and rolos (or any candy) in gold wrap for the pot of gold. Some guacamole to dip the veggies in is a good green option.

I have made pretzel “Pot of Golds” before using a waffle pretzel, a rolo, an air head rainbow bite and gold sugar sprinkles. They love these, and they are easy to make (click on the gold writing for the recipe).

Another favorite is to make cupcakes (if your kids would eat green cake, add some green coloring to the yellow cake batter, mine won’t) and make some green frosting but keep some white for those who won’t touch green food. I frost the cupcakes and have a variety of items for them to decorate for themselves. I make sure to have sprinkles – gold, rainbow, green, lucky charms (especially the marshmallows) and any little candies that seem appropriate.

I may try a craft this year where the kids draw and cut out their handprint on orange construction paper and then make a leprechaun using the hand as the beard. I will have to see if I have time to put the pieces together before our get together.

For the adults – Must haves include some Guinness (not me – don’t like beer) and boiled dinner. Try a charcuterie board (always) and include some Irish cheddars and green accoutrements like pickles, olives, green apples and sugar snap peas.

We don’t just celebrate the luck o’ the Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. On our 60^th birthdays (last October) we rented a blow-up Irish pub and had our family and friends over for a birthday bash. It was so much fun! Our house is small, but we lucked out and had a beautiful, warm night so we were able to set up two fire pits for people to mingle inside the house, in the pub and outside in the yard. Most people complied with the request to wear their best Irish gear. It was such a great night.

We hope that this post shows you how to enjoy St. Patrick’s Day with you family in a lighthearted, creative and fun way. You will have to let me know how your celebrations went!!

Remember anywhere you see gold text in the content, there is a link to click on so please go visit the links as well as reading the story. “Pot of Gold”

Patti and Jim