Mommy O' Gill, I'm not

Currently listening to: My "calming celtic" playlist. Thanks to Enya, Loreena McKennit, Maire Brennan and others. Ahhhhh... Just what I need to calm my maple syrup-addled brain.

Actually I have no syrup at all. We tried all evening to get those pots of sap to boil, but the suckers obstinately refused. A lot of steam was produced, and the level of sap in the pots was diminished, but at the end of the night we gave up and stuck 'em outside to keep cool until we could figure out the next step.

Today when Dan got home from school he noticed that the two containers that were gathering sap were overflowing. Whoopee. Now we have more stuff that we don't know what to do with. Stay tuned.

Besides, I needed my stove today for simmering corned beef and cabbage.

Here's some advice that you should take to heart. Seriously. Don't ever try something fun with your kids on a holiday unless you have decided beforehand that you are committed to repeating this activity for every subsequent celebration of that holiday until you die or Jesus comes back, which ever comes first. Believe me when I tell you this.

Once upon a time there was a mom who heard a friend say that the leprechauns visited their house on St. Patrick's Eve while everyone was asleep and left little green treats on the table for the kiddies to discover in the morning. So she thought she'd try that at her home. It was fun! It made the kiddies smile! It made the kiddies expect it even when they were fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen..... And the poor mother wished she had put up a leprechaun trap that first fateful day back when the kiddies were four.

This particular mother was unfortunately a slow learner. She remembered fondly how HER mother had sometimes made green eggs and ham on St. Patrick's Day mornings. She thought that it would be a treat for her kiddies, too, and set about recreating that favorite childhood memory. It was fun! It made the kiddies smile! And they came to expect it to be recreated faithfully every single subsequent St. Patrick's Day.

Yes, I confess. 'Twas I. And sometimes I have forgotten all about St. Patrick's Day. And sometimes I have thought, pshaw -- my kids are old enough now that surely they don't still expect all this silliness.

I have been wrong. And I have wished I had never done anything more exciting for St. Patrick's Day than a well-meaning pinch or two.

This year I remembered, which is nothing less than miraculous, and I picked up the green gum and other treats. I bought the corned beef, cabbage, red potatoes, and pumpernickel bread.

But this morning Susannah asked for green eggs and ham, and I had forgotten to get the ham. Rats.