Making the most of magical days like St. Patrick’s Day.
I know I’m preaching to the choir when I say that being Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy takes planning, precision, and a heck of a lot of commitment. But there is one day of the year that makes it all worth it, for me at least. Perhaps I should preface this by fully admitting that yes, I’m biased since I am indeed, a wee bit Irish.
Once a year on St. Patrick’s Day we get a visit from the sneakiest Leprechaun in town. His visits make such an impression on us, that my 6-year-old has just resorted to calling this day for what it is —“Leprechaun’s Day.” He flips our kitchen chairs over, hides our lunchboxes, makes the water in the toilet green, and last year he even taped the toilet lid shut with a huge shamrock! There’s no doubt about it, he is getting trickier and trickier, the older we get!
We prepare the eve before by setting a trap that might catch the sneaky fella but to date, he continues to out-trick us. At least he leaves us a tiny bit of his gold though, a token of his appreciation for giving it our best. Sometimes he leaves other little presents too — like a kite or a jump rope to play with outside, and burn some pent-up energy (gosh, what a considerate little guy!).
I realize this isn’t what St. Patrick’s Day is really all about — March 17th is actually the anniversary of the death of St. Patrick, which the Irish have observed as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. According to History.com, “Saint Patrick, who lived during the fifth century, is the patron saint of Ireland and its national apostle. Born in Roman Britain, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16. He later escaped but returned to Ireland and was credited with bringing Christianity to its people.”
And eventually, I’ll teach my boys this important history, but now is not that time. This year, I’m leaning into the fact that I still have a son who hasn’t yet dismissed the idea of magical things happening while he’s up in his room peacefully slumbering. Besides, for all that us moms do, we deserve to have some fun!
So yes — while blowing up 15 green balloons, cutting out a semi-decent looking shamrock from an adhesive glitter foam thingy and taping zig-zagged crepe paper across everyone’s bedroom door all in one night may seem like extra busy work to add to an already, never-ending to do list, seeing his half amazed, half bewildered look as he assesses the damage on Leprechaun’s morning is a memory that will be go into the deep freeze storage of my mom memory bank, and that makes it 100% worth it for me.
Happy Leprechaun’s Day to all, and to all, a good night!
