Friday, February 29, 2008

Prepping for St. Paddy's

I finally finished the invitations for our "Annual St. Patrick's Day Celebration." This year I'm even growing a pot of "Shamrocks" for the event as well. You can see them in the green pot up above. I hope they make it and I can keep them alive. HA!

This is something that we have done for years now because alot of people don't know about Irish culture and haven't tasted Irish foods and such. Especially where we live. As you can guess.....the culture here is very much French.

We do this for our friends for fun....and we always ate and celebrated St. Patrick's day when we were growing up in the Midwest especially because every did and my husband's family is Irish. Hence their last name. Which I never put on here but trust me, if you heard it you'd know.

Some of the people we invite are Irish and some went to Ireland with me on the trip I took. So that makes this special as well. We celebrate Ireland and many of our family "roots."

We have continued to do this through the past could of years because people look forward to our party and we enjoy doing it for them.Every year I do the invitations different and usually buy some sort of cards with Irish scenery and write in them or whatever....last year I used a personalized online card service that did all the work for me....but this year I decided to "hand make them".....which was a challenge for me because some days my hands don't work so great.

Earlier this week I had a "good hand" day so I went to work and got most all of them finished. I still need to make a few more but these are done are going in the mail TODAY!

We will have upwards to 25 people here not counting our family and the kid's friends....all eating Corn Beef and Cabbage that we now have resorted to cooking outside in our giant "Crawfish pots" over a burner because we don't have household pots large enough.

We also do boiled potatoes, carrots and potatoes rolls. Others bring various deserts...last year we had some "Green bread" that someone baked.
We love just having fun.
We don't do anything crazy, there is no drinking..there are no "Hooligans" and everything just always flows nicely. People meet new people and eat and chat while listening to Celtic music in the back ground.

"Tis great 'Craic."'

"Craic" means "Fun." So in essence we have "Great fun"......wish you all could come.

I can never get one of my boys to wear my "Kilt" I own though....that would be over the top if someone would.
Any takers?

12 comments:

Steph said...

oh, fun!!!!! And I love that teapot! I look forward to hearing more!

Julie said...

I did not learn that I was Irish until about three years ago so did not grow up in the traditions. It was great to see what your family does and learn a new word! Your invitations are beautiful.

Julie

Julie said...

P. S. There are hardly any Irish people around here - mostly just Germans From Russia and some Norwegians (I'm half Norwegian, 1/4 Irish and 1/4 Scottish).

Julie

SweetAnnee said...

OH lovely items..Rich and I are FOR SURE going to
Ireland..(robbing my retirement account if I have to)

hope your weekend is lovely
if the kilts get worn..we NEED pics.
LOL
deena

Anonymous said...

Hi Joyce. The two cloche's I bought yesterday came from the Red Onion. It's just right nextdoor to the Royal, sorry. Please let me know what mag.that is your friend orders from. I would love to buy a big one but just hate to spend all that cash on a "glass dome", as my husband would call it. They can get up there in price. Your party sounds like so much fun. Please take lots of pictures for us to see. Xoxo, Susie ps... hope you are feeling better. The temp changs so much down here...

sherri said...

Wish I could be there sweets! I would give anything - I LOVE the way you did your Invites!! They look wonderful - great job!!
The kids and I will celebrate our Irish heritage, but my husband is not too into it. He doesn't get into Holidays very much!
I LOVE it, as you are well aware!
Everything looks wonderful!
xo Sherri

Unknown said...

I have Irish in me on both sides of the family, so the jig is already jigglin'! I LOVE CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE!

Do come over to my blog. You have been tagged with a MEME. Before you pass out (teehee), I actually like the simplicity of this one. It involves a 6-word caption or tribute and a picture. Piece of cake! I can't wait to see what you come up with!

HUMONGOUS HUGS!
KJ

Sara said...

I love the invites, they are gorgeous! I like the idea of a special dinner, the kids and I may have to plan one as well. With Granny's scalloped cabbage!

Joyce said...

Sara,
Send me that recipe! I can't remember eating it. Maybe we didn't get any. HA! But it sounds good.
Cousin Joyce

Charlotte said...

I love all your Irish stuff - especially the banner picture. Thanks for visiting my blog. Yes, we like to eat at the Cracker Barrel too, and most times we try to stay at a hotel that serves breakfast. I'm glad so many of them do that now.
Have a great week.
Happy Birthday to your handsome son.

Alice said...

How special it must be to get one of those invitations in the mail. It really sets the tone for the caring that goes into your party.

Shari said...

The invitations look beautiful. I'm part Irish. My maiden name is Irish, too. But, I've never embraced the culture. My mother is part Swedish with a Swedish maiden name. So, she was always promoting Swedish heritage. We currently live in a French community. Since, we are not French the locals call us the English family. But, they've never bothered to ask if we are. I guess if we're not French, then we must be English.