Happy St. Patrick's Day

Good Morning! Wanted to give everyone a wee little St. Patrick's Day shout out! When I was growing up my mom (100% IRISH) made a very big deal out of this day for us. Not that she wanted us to think of Ireland as having these HUGE parades and people getting drunk all over. Nor did she want us to think of my grandparents (her parents) as these happy,jolly dancing fools. She wanted us to be proud of where they were from and what they stood for. What stories I have been told of the struggles that my great-grandparents faced when they came to America as teenagers. I think the hardest one was how my grandfather's family had to change their name because noone was hiring Irish to work. What a heartache for a people who had endured so much already. John and Margaret were very proud of being Irish and they were not afraid to let you know it either. HA :) Hoping I can one day travel to County Clare and see where that side of my family is from.

I always used to get mad when people didn't wear green and here I was this morning struggling with my closet to find something with green in it! HAHA Just wanted to wish you a bit of luck on this foggy kinda rainy morning. I wanted to ask you if you had any family traditions that you remember from growing up??

My parents bought this for J when they took a trip to the Emerald Isle in October. Tried to get both boys in the picture but J was not really feeling it this morning.