Top o’ the morning!

The children slept in today, and Ne slept the longest.  Though you wouldn’t know, to hear her tell it.  “I just couldn’t sleep any longer, because I could sense the leprechaun was near!”

I thought I was going to pour myself the last remaining dregs of coffee, and moved to do so, when I heard a very loud gasp.  “Mommy!”

“Wait, what?  Why?  Why are you in there and I’m not?  What’s happening?”  Excitement trumps coffee.  Next time, get up earlier, Mom.

Nene, all business now, tells me, “The rug fell down into the trap.  We need to see if the leprechaun is in there.  Will you get the trap down for me?”  I hand her the trap, and she walks it over to the couch, where I can snap a photo of her in the light.

She found a note.  It was folded into a minuscule quadrilateral form.

I apologize for the blurriness.  It reads, “Olly Olly Oxen Free!  Ah, how I wish ye human folk would find little-people sized writing things.  Nevertheless, my dear colleen, ye shall have your leprechaun, in a fashion!  I suppose ye’d like a pot o’ gold, too?”  And in very sparkly crayon, the leprechaun did indeed give her those things.

“I told you a butterfly net would be better, Mom!”  She sighed, “I guess he must have just snapped out of the trap with his magic.”  She was still happy the leprechaun came by for a visit though.  “I can still sense him!  Will you go find me something green to wear?”

Danny, on the other hand, has the complete opposite reaction to St. Patrick’s Day.  Upon greeting him this morning, I said, “I suppose you’ll be wanting to change into something green before we go to the parade, so ya don’t get pinched.”

He turned his lovely Irish-complected* countenance towards me, looked up with his sweet hazel eyes, and said, matter-of-factly, “No. No, Mom, I won’t.”

“What?”  I asked, “Do you want people to pinch you?  If you’re not wearing green you’ll get pinched!”

“That didn’t happen last year.”

“Because you were wearing green!”

“Oh.  Meh.”

That’s right, folks.  My sweet ginger boy with hazel-green eyes and freckles galore, wants nothing to do with the holiday of his ancestors.

*Side note: technically red hair and green eyes are not traditionally Irish features; rather, they are Germanic features, passed to the Irish folk via the Saxon invasions.  Nonetheless, we go with it.

So Danny’s not much into the leprechauns and pot of gold and all things green.  But he has traditionally appreciated appreciated the history of it all, and the story of St. Patrick ridding Ireland of snakes resonates with him.

Watching this video fascinated him, too:

He would have liked it better if he had heard more bagpipes, though.  But watching the video led to great questions about the I.R.A. and Oliver Cromwell, and the British oppression of the Irish folk.

And that, dear friends, is why we wear green on St. Paddy’s Day.  To remember our heritage (legend has it, we’re descended from the last pagan king of Ireland!)  and recognize the still-ongoing struggles.  Though, no, I don’t mind a pint or two of some good Irish ale, either.

Sláinte, all!

To catch a wee leprechaun

Danny has been tormented for the last week by a leprechaun.  Evidently, the tiny imp has been in both of the first grade classrooms, making off with school supplies, upending furniture, driving kids generally crazy.

Danny vented about this to his sister yesterday.  Right before bedtime.  Which then led to a very awake and excited child.

“What day is Saint Patrick’s Day?” She asked every five minutes.  “Will the leprechaun come to take the chocolate I left him tonight?  When can we make his trap?”

I promised we’d make it today.  So we did.  And she was so excited about it that she skipped dinner.  Even now that it’s done, she’s too excited to eat.  She can’t wait to catch that leprechaun!!

We found a video on YouTube that she chose for her inspiration.  She decided to rename her project to that of “Leprechaun Home” instead of “trap,” because she realized that they might overhear her, and she wanted to make them feel welcome.  Teehee!

Here is the leprechaun home.  Furnished with a sparkly shoe, stuffed with green yarn, for a bed; a green slinky for a toy to play with; green and rainbow wallpaper; and a lovely green throw rug, topped with a chocolate foil ladybug.  We embellished the front with sparkly silver fabric because, as Ne said, “Leprechauns love to look at themselves!”

Nene decorated the outside with green and yellow fish stickers and gold diamonds.

That throw rug with the chocolate ladybug on top?  When Mr. Leprechaun “goes for the gold,” so to speak, he’ll discover a surprise!  I cut a hole in the bottom there, under that rug, which drops into a terra cotta flower pot, wrapped in an Irish-themed scarf borrowed from the Missus.  (I hope she’s ok with that, I didn’t really ask first….)

And finally, we made absolutely certain the leprechauns knew that this was intended to be their new home with a nice, green Welcome sign.  “Please come in, Leprechauns!”

Now, I have to figure out what to do with the chocolate, and how to explain the lack of leprechaun to the children.  Perhaps a glitter-encrusted taunting note… “Nyah, nyah, boo-boo!”