Happy St Patrick's Day! 2011

We had lots of fun in our lil' family celebrating St. Patrick's Day! We set up a Leprechaun trap with a box and stick and a couple of Reese's Pieces under the box. We thought for SURE we'd catch one! Michael swore he heard a Leprecaun in the night in his room eating the Reese's Pieces!!

We woke up and looked in our trap that had collapsed (hoping to find a Leprechaun under there) but found gold coins under the box instead! The Leprechauns also played all sorts of tricks on us! They turned our toilet water green, and when we poured our milk in our breakfast glasses the milk magically turned green! We had Corn Beef Hash and all sorts of green foods for dinner with family and decorated the table with shamrocks (real in pots, and ones that Michael colored and I cut).

Here is some history tidbits we put under each person's plate:

St. Patrick is the patron Saint of Ireland and the Irish. He was born about 389 A.D. in Northern Wales, which at that time may have been part of England or Scotland.

Saint Patrick had an adventurous life. He was captured by pirates at the age of 16. The Irish pirates brought him to Ireland to tend the flocks of a chieftain in Ulster.

Six years of slavery made him a devoted Christian. He escaped to France and became a monk. In 432, a vision led him to return to Ireland as a missionary bishop.

He brought Christianity to Ireland and taught there for 29 years. He used the shamrock, a 3 leaf clover, (Ireland's national flower) to explain the Blessed Trinity.

St. Patrick founded 365 churches, baptized over 120,000 people and consecrated 450 bishops.

Many tales sprung up about this popular saint. One of the most popular legends was how he charmed all the snakes of Ireland down to the seashore to be drowned by the water.

The only certain writings of St. Patrick's are his Confessions (written in crude Latin) and a letter written to a man named Coroticus.

St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 A.D. The anniversary of his death is celebrated as St. Patrick's Day. It's interesting to note that the shamrock clover flowers around that time of year.

The first official celebration of St. Patrick's Day in the United States occurred in Morristown, New Jersey in 1780. It was authorized by George Washington.

Today St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by the Irish as well as many Americans with parades, parties, wearing of green, Irish songs and jigs. People wear green on this day to represent the lushness of Ireland - The Emerald Isle.