Leprechauns visited us!

The kids were so sad when I took the Valentine decorations down but it was too early to put up Easter decorations, so I decided that, although we are not Catholic nor Irish, we would celebrate St. Patrick's day -- at least the pagan part of the holiday.

I got some picture books from the library to read to the kids and Rex did a marvelous job with the Irish accent! Mom emailed me pictures of me(3) and Johnny(5) with St. Patrick's Day hats so I could show the kids. I meant to make them hats, but never found the time. But I did cut out a ton of shamrocks and strung them up like garland. I found some leprechaun cut-out pictures to post on the walls. I meant to bake something and decorate it with shamrocks or something but never figured out what to bake or how to decorate it. But I did find a cute story and activity that we will continue as a holiday tradition:

LEGEND OF THE LEPRECHAUNS: Full of magic and trickery, the leprechauns remain in their hidden world until the night before St. Patrick's Day. On that one night of the year they appear throughout the world to dance and sing and frolic. Disguising themselves as leaves and grass, and sounding like the wind and the crickets, they come and go unnoticed. However, it is said that if a decorated treasure box is left empty under the moon, the leprechauns must fill the box with gold or jewels or gifts. But then they will hide the filled box in the most unlikely of places. If the box is found on St. Patrick's Day, the treasure remains in our world. If not, the leprechauns may retrieve what is rightfully theirs. And though the leprechauns are very clever, it is not impossible to find the treasure because, unknowingly, leprechauns often leave a trail of greenery behind them.

I found a small gold cardboard box we had and decorated it with shamrock and leprechaun stickers. Then we set it out at night and the mischevious leprechauns came and left green bead necklaces, little foam (homemade) shamrock pins, and lots of chocolates wrapped in gold and silver foil (kisses and peanut butter cups).

The kids were so excited about the Leprechauns coming that they told the librarian about it as soon as we got to the library that morning. The librarian was so tickled about the way we celebrated St. Patrick's Day, Rex said the kids just made her day! Of course, we all wore our green too.