Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

I was thinking today how last St. Patrick's Day was Teach's farewell for her mission. It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by, but in some ways it seems like forever! We had a big party last year if you remember and the only reference to St. Patrick's Day was the fact that Princess made over a hundred shamrock-shaped sugar cookies. This year we decided to celebrate it in a little more traditional way.

I put Prima Donna in charge of Family Home Evening and our lesson on Ireland because I knew she would do a fantastic job and I wasn't disappointed. My sweetie came home early to cook us a traditional Irish meal. No, we didn't do corned beef and cabbage. We tried that once and it was so disgusting we couldn't even eat it! I think we must have cooked it wrong, because I ate corned beef as a child and I always liked it just fine. We do love cabbage and that was included on tonight's menu. He also put together an Irish hash with potatoes, pork, peppers, onions, and cheese. It was delicious! He made Irish Soda Bread, something we have had before that the kids always enjoy. Except for Prima Donna. She kept picking out the raisins, so she was banned from taking a second slice. Crafty and I made a pistachio salad which is not traditionally Irish, but it was tasty. To top it all off, my sweetie got out the food coloring and turned the Sprite Zero into a lovely shade of green.

After dinner and homework, we gathered for Family Home Evening. We started with scriptures and then we let Prima Donna teach her lesson. The kids had so much fun playing Irish Games, searching for the rainbow, and learning about Ireland. She taught us about the flag and we wrote on shamrocks that we added to a gratitude jar. There was also a cute rainbow chain with a pot of gold on the end. She spoiled us with Irish Soda Cookies which were similar to the bread but a little sweeter and with a slightly different texture.

The kids love learning about different cultures and especially their traditions and foods. Sport is working on an International Activity scout patch that requires us to do 4 different countries so that gives us a good excuse. I will let you know which ones we choose.

It's crazy for me to think that people all over the world read my blog, but if any of you live in Ireland and would send us some pics or other fun traditions we can try, that would be amazing!

Or if you live some other awesome place, we would love to choose your country to study next. Let me know!