Wearin' O' the Green

If you aren't smiling today, you are not Irish!

In a world not to long away or far away our family started going on leprachaun hunts after dusk on St. Patty's day.

Our son Matt, who was almost 6 years old at the time, started the tradition. He insisted that he had seen a leprachaun riding on top of a neighbors car and that if we hurried we could catch the leprachaun and the pot of gold would be ours. He truly believed he could catch a leprachaun and I didn't have the heart to tell him that in actuality, catching a leprachaun was harder than one would imagine. So the tradition of going out on a cold damp night in March (sometimes in a foot of snow) became ours and eventually the neighborhood's as well.

I play well with others and not wanting to disappoint our young children, I made a run to the grocery store for anything green that would suffice as Leprachaun booty.

Rushing up and down the aisles of our neighborhood grocery store, I found some green M & M's (minty ones, yummmm) that I thought I could pass off as something leprachaunish and then what to my wondering eyes did appear but "GOLD" wrapped Passover coins for the upcoming Jewish holiday ... no, we are not Jewish, but anything will work when the imagination is at play.

As I drove home, more and more excited at the prospect of my kids finding the leprachaun gold, I began to think about how to make the leprachauns appear without really appearing. Throwing the coins out the car window up and down our street, the plan began to take shape.

Armed with flashlights for saftey and healthy imaginations bundled into heavy winter coats, the hunt began. Under bushes, the old leaves became leprachaun hair that had been caught in the branches while the wet spots on the pavement became footprints left behind and the gold .... we were so close so many times .... and of course, everyone knows that if you don't catch the leprachaun first, his gold turns into chocolate

Arriving home, their pockets filled with magical chocolate gold, our children began dreaming, "maybe next year" ... and then as they scampered down the hall to get ready for bed telling each other how tricky those leprachauns could be, the real fun began. While we had been out searching, those playful leprachauns had come into our home, jumped on the beds, and left hundreds of green shamrocks and M & M's sprinkled throughout the house. Later that night, long after the hunt was over, my husband and I heard the soft, sweet, sleepy, giggles as our not so big children slept in a place made of green and gold chocolate covered dreams.

Wishing you and your family well loved traditions that come out of blue or even green that will make golden memories that will never get lost in what should be the most important thing in our lives - our children.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Laura Anne and Bella Boo