St. Patties Day 2011

The day has come again, another one of my favorite holidays of the year: St. Patties Day.

Quick History of St. Patricks Day from Wikipedia:

Saint Patrick’s Day (Irish: Lá Fhéile Pádraig) is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick (c. AD 387–461), the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland.[2]It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion (especially the Church of Ireland),[3] the Eastern Orthodox Churchand Lutheran Church. Saint Patrick’s Day was made an official feast day in the early 17th century, and has gradually become a secular celebration of Irish culture in general.[4]The day is generally characterised by the attendance of church services,[5][6] wearing of green attire (especially shamrocks),[7]and the lifting of Lenten restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol,[8][9][10] which is often proscribed during the rest of the season. (AKA A break from lent!)About the man himself, same source:

At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.[17] It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.[citation needed]In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

It is a great day, famous water including the Chicago river and the fountain in front of the white house are died green each year, we wear shamrocks and have a great time.

I bought buttons and handed them out at work, I gave all the kids stickers and made duct tape bracelets with green duct tape. My girls asked why I like the holiday so much, and I guess it is becasue it is just a fun day where you wear green, have a party, and ask people to kiss you. (JK)

I dressed up too, of course:

Ok mom, before you freak out, I didn’t wear the shamrock to work, I just wore it for our party. Everyone was getting into the sprit, even Karl:

We invited our friends over for dinner and to watch Thursday night shows.

Krysta and Zac of course. They were both decked out for the occasion. Karen made Krysta that necklace.

Alicia was of course there and she made this amazing peach and pear cobbler, it was so freaking good. Cobbler was super Irish, I was all for it.

The queen of the party is always miss Karen. She is throwing back a ice cold…

APPLE BEER! Courtesy of the Whitmores. I had three.

We had an all green salad, Karl’s amazing mashed potatoes and of course all the corned beef you can handle!

Dinner was fun, despite my terrible hat, the conversation was stimulating and funny.

After dinner was sat in the living room chatting and watching TV/ Park and Rec. this week was so freaking hilarious. Look it up ASAP on Hulu if you missed it.

We pulled out the glow sticks we bought for the night and little miss Karen couldn’t keep them out of her mouth.