...we didn't have to spend the St. Patrick's Day Dogtown Parade sopping wet. It poured down rain the whole ride into the city and stopped at exactly the moment we pulled into the zoo's parking lot. It stayed dry through the parades entirety, then rain drops began to fall as the last parader marched passed us. That had to be the luck of the Irish!
Every year, for as long as Brad and I have been together St. Patrick's Day has been a national holiday in our family. Nobody works, nobody goes to school and about thirty to forty of us steak our claim on the corner of Tamm and Oakland. Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, oh my. This year was a little more vacant due to the weather.
The kids have a blast! They get all hyped up on tossed sweets and their vocabulary is limited to one word throughout the procession..."beads, beads." And boy do they get beads. By the end of the day they are so weighed down with colored necklaces, they can hardly walk. The adults have been known to get a little rowdy as well.
After the parade, family and friends gather at a family friend-owned pub in Normandy called Whelans where everyone chats the rest of the afternoon away in the dark, smokey tavern (more like cavern). And the kids run around like banshees. Why do we do this? I ask myself that very same question every year. But, it has become a family ritual that is strong and predictable. It has developed into our family's passage to the next season. So now that the custom is completed, my hope is that Spring will be close behind.
Every year, for as long as Brad and I have been together St. Patrick's Day has been a national holiday in our family. Nobody works, nobody goes to school and about thirty to forty of us steak our claim on the corner of Tamm and Oakland. Aunts and Uncles and Cousins, oh my. This year was a little more vacant due to the weather.
The kids have a blast! They get all hyped up on tossed sweets and their vocabulary is limited to one word throughout the procession..."beads, beads." And boy do they get beads. By the end of the day they are so weighed down with colored necklaces, they can hardly walk. The adults have been known to get a little rowdy as well.
After the parade, family and friends gather at a family friend-owned pub in Normandy called Whelans where everyone chats the rest of the afternoon away in the dark, smokey tavern (more like cavern). And the kids run around like banshees. Why do we do this? I ask myself that very same question every year. But, it has become a family ritual that is strong and predictable. It has developed into our family's passage to the next season. So now that the custom is completed, my hope is that Spring will be close behind.
No comments:
Post a Comment