In New England we say "Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day." It's a huge deal in the area.  There are parades, parties, restaurant specials, and of course all of the great food items you can find in the market. I have many fond memories of the holiday and continue to make new ones wherever I am. 

Growing up, my parents always celebrated St. Patrick's Day with us. We would have a traditional corned beef and cabbage dinner and my mom would put green food coloring in our milk.  I would only eat the corned beef and some raw carrots, but these days I eat the whole dinner. It was a fun celebration in our house.  One year I won “Leprechaun of the Day” at school. I think I was in third grade. I wore green corduroys, a green turtleneck, a green sweater, and green socks. I also had green pom pom hair ties in my pigtails! I remember how excited I was to go home and tell my family! I also couldn't wait to tell my grandfather. My maternal grandfather is mainly Irish and St. Patrick's Day was always such a big deal to him. He would dress from head to toe in his Irish gear and take the grandkids and whoever else he could wrangle up to the local St. Patrick's Day parades. Of course he'd enjoy a corned beef sandwich and beer afterwards.  He was our family leprechaun. This is one of the many fond memories of my grandfather that I hold in my heart.  

Of course college St. Patrick's Day celebrations included dressing in crazy green outfits and drinking green beer. In my twenties my friends and I frequented an Irish bar, St. James Pub. We spent time together there year round, but St. Patrick's Day was always extra fun. We'd wait in line forever to get in, but we knew we'd see all of our friends and have a great time so it was worth it.  After college, I lived in Newport, RI...where St. Patty's is a HUGE deal.  They have an awesome parade and people come in from all over to attend. It was an all day affair. My friends would sleep over the night before and we'd head out by 9 am.  We'd kick it off at O'Brien's pub, then watch the parade, see some of our favorite bands play, and go wherever the day would take us. It's one of those things that you really have to experience to understand what it was like. Such a blast!

Another fun St. Pat's memory I have is the St. Pat's 5K in Providence, RI. I ran it twice with my brother Adam. It was a fun course. Of course it always ended up freezing out on race day, but we always had a blast together.  I love that we were able to run the race together and we would go out and celebrate after.  

When I started dating my husband, I wanted to continue the corned beef dinner tradition, so we'd make corned beef sandwiches. We had a special menu: corned beef on rye with mustard, sauerkraut, and swiss cheese. We had Cape Cod potato chips and a pickle on the side and served it with cold beer. Not your traditional corned beef dinner, but it was a tradition for us.   We always did this a few weeks prior and then we'd have actual corned beef dinner with my family on St. Patrick's Day. Also, one of our good friends hosted a huge St. Patty's party. It was so great to see our friends, catch up with everyone, and spend time together....along with lots of shenanigans. We have some of the best memories of these parties! 

Decorating for St. Patrick's Day is another fun tradition. My mom always decorated at our house growing up. It's a sign that Spring is coming! I usually decorate with tulips, daffodils, and some pops of green. This shamrock is from my grandparents.  It's made out of horseshoes. It was one of my favorite decorations at their house when I was growing up and since my grandmother passed it on to me it has been a special Spring decoration in all my apartments and houses.

Now that we're in NC, I miss the family dinners and time with our friends, but we still celebrate down here. We don't make the sandwiches anymore, but we do have the traditional corned beef dinner every year.  My parents came to visit last week so we had an early corned beef dinner with them. It was fun to continue the tradition with them! I'm looking forward to celebrating with friends this year. The holiday isn't as big of a deal down here in North Carolina as it is up in New England, but it's still a great time!  

Whether you're Irish or not, Happy St. Patrick's Day!