Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, too! It's going to be a long work day, so not much celebrating. There probably is green beer in my fridge but not intentionally lol! :-)

That is an adorable picture, TR Jen!

I think it depends on where you live. When we lived in Boston, it is part of the local culture with parades, adults wearing green for the day and kids wearing green to school. Here in Los Angeles, it is just another regular day.

Chispa, is there not a St. Patrick's Day parade in LA? I thought there was one in most large cities. There's one in Dallas, and it's a drunkfest. ;-)

My grandmother came here from Ireland when she was 17. She never saw her family again or the baby sister that arrived after she left. I've been to NYC and saw her name on the wall at Ellis Island. Very Powerful. Unfortunately, I never met my grandmother since she died before I was born, but I loved hearing all of the stories about her. She read tea leaves in guests cups after a visit, when they asked her to. Fascinating I think. I have never been to Ireland but some or our relatives have. It is definitely on my bucket list.

TR. I've got to know. So did your mom let the guy in the pub from Michigan kiss her?:)

Not of Irish descent, tho my grandpa was born in Belfast. 1 thing I know I never want to do (after reading an article about it) is put my lips on that nasty stone - ewww!

I'm lucky if I remember to wear something green, but Slainte! to those who are lifting a glass in celebration.

No Irish in my family. Dh is part Irish but they never did anything to celebrate particularly. I am wearing green and so is Dd. Ds declined. Dd's kindergarten class spent last week making leprechaun traps (there were some leprechaun foot prints in their classroom the day before) and I think they were going to have some treats today.

Happy St Paddy's Day to you Jen!

I have a bit of English in me, maternal great grandfather but not an ounce of Irish that I know of. I've always envied and admired the Irish.

I'm almost 1/2 Irish (my mother is 3/4 Irish) - three of her grandparents came over from Ireland, the other was French Canadian. Dh is around 3/4 Irish, with a little French and Danish. St. Patrick's Day is celebrating for around two weeks here in the state capital of MD. It started two Sundays ago with a well-attended parade, lots of Irish dancing performances over the last week and a half, Irish beer races last Sunday, and then obviously, all the bars (it's a tourist town) are going to be packed.

No big celebration for my family though since it's a school night and my kids are all busy! I always make "steak and stout" pie with Guinness beer, a layered dessert with chocolate pudding, mint cookies and green whipped cream (and baileys for me and dh). I've got the pie in the oven now and it smells delicious. Sadly, no family meal together tonight. Dd16 is working 6-9, ds15 has an away lacrosse game and won't be home til around 7. Dd11 gets home from practice around 6:30, right when dh leaves with ds13 for his practice! While our nights are often busy, normally we manage to eat together but not tonight. I'll probably eat with dh, dd16 and ds13 and the other two will have to reheat theirs. :(

Happy St. Pat's Day to all who celebrate.

Sometimes I pretend the day doesn't exist and I'm mostly Irish with a touch of Scotland and Wales thrown in - all immigrant coal miners in the mid 1800's. DD is half. As a child growing up in Castle Shannon (a suburb of Pittsburgh) March 17th was the feast day of St. Patrick, not really the huge drinking event as it is now. The day began with a Mass in the Cathedral and then we'd march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. I took step dancing lessons before someone decided that garish costumes and curly wigs were mandatory, sang all the old Irish songs with my dear Da, drank Brewley's or Lyon's tea with cream and sugar, and baked soda bread with currants with my Grandmother.

We will have a special meal to celebrate this weekend when the kids come over for a birthday celebration. They always ask for corned beef and colcannon rather than the Irish stew or shepherd's pie we often had as kids.

I took my son to Ireland for 10 days and we had great craic as they say - which means fun. He gallantly put up with me when I joined in the singing in the pubs at night but I spared both of us the embarrassment of dancing any jigs or reels. I hired a driver so that we could both sit back and relax and enjoy the scenery and not deal with the roundabouts and driving on the wrong side. DD's boyfriend is from London so we're trying to plan a trip to visit his family and then go on to Scotland or Northern Ireland.

Maire

Funny how recent Ancestry site searches have turned many family tales of heritage upside down! My DH has an Irish surname and his family has always been Big on celebrating all things Irish. Turns out, little me, of French Canadian roots, has more Irish blood than any of them ;)

I always make corned beef & cabbage with soda bread for dinner. When my kids lived home I'd make the untraditional - but green - Watergate cake for dessert. For those unfamiliar, it is pistachio flavored cake with pistachio green icing.

DH & I always rented an Irish themed movie to watch. When the kids came along it was a special treat for them to move our dinner into the TV room & eat while watching. The Quiet Man, Pete's Dragon - two favorites.

We always wear a touch of green & I used to get green carnations to pin on DH's lapel & the kids' coats before they left for school. DS fondly recalls that I used to pack a seasonal treat - a green coconut Hostess snowball - in their lunch boxes. It was the only day of the year they got a store-bought pastry.

DH has traveled to Ireland for work often, but I've been only once. We did a family trip in August '99. The weather was with us and we had a fabulous time. It was the last time just the 4 of us took a traveling vacation together. Couldn't have picked a better place. I was enchanted by the countryside and loved the people!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Just came back from having an Irish dinner sans the Guinness. Slainté

My dream is to visit Ireland, although neither DH or myself is of Irish descent. Scot and German on my side; English and Chickasaw on DH's. When I was pregnant with DD, whose due date was in May, I ended up having to be admitted for preeclampsia complications on St. Patrick's Day. The nurses kept telling me that I should name her Mary Kathleen, as they were sure I was going to deliver that very day and she should have a fitting Irish name. I actually made it one more day, as I went full-blown eclamptic on the 18th. I named her Emily Elizabeth instead. A fitting English name. Tonight we'll celebrate with corned beef and cabbage. Tomorrow my sweet 7 month preemie turns 22 years old and we'll celebrate it with a true New Mexican dinner out in Santa Fe.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

TR, there probably is a parade somewhere in LA, but I think the Boston area is much more "Irish" compared to other area in the US.

So true, Chrispa. I worked in Boston today and wore green, as did many of my colleagues. The St. Patty's Day Parade, which is scheduled for Sunday in South Boston may be complicated by snow. After the mild winter we have had, that's a tough one for the die-hard parade attendees to accept. Having a daughter who lives in "Southie" I know she's counting on attending the parade. Irish Pride is strong in Boston!

Too funny!

Alas...not even a molecule of Irish for our family(s)! Just us Scandehoovians...;-)

Norwegian (shocker!! ;-0) for the most part. Then, some Danish/English on my side. DW is ~ 25% Swede.

Faron

"Uffda!"

Happy St.Patrick's Day!

I made these today, and cross-posted on the Kitchens forum.

Thank you all for sharing your lovely, funny, sweet stories and traditions. Even if it's just another day, I hope it was a good one! No celebrating here - I spent most of the evening prepping tomorrow's crockpot meal - but I had fun reminiscing about St. Patrick's Days gone by. And who knows? Maybe the luck of the Irish was with me today, as we had some nasty weather move through our area today but I managed to escape it. (A friend was not so lucky and her car's sunroof and windshield were smashed by big hailstones - while she was driving it!)

I didn't wear green today and didn't even get pinched. I guess my pinchable days are over.