Tuesday 4 - Saint Patrick

 

Saint Patrick

1. Do you celebrate the day and is it more secular or religious for you?
   
   No. We don't celebrate it at all.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Americans eat corned beef and cabbage but it's not traditional in Ireland at all.   In my  house its Colcannon and Beef Stew or Cottage pie (shepherds pie made with beef instead of lamb).. which is more realistic and far less salty.  Do you make special meals for holidays?  What will you make for St. Patrick's Day?
   
   The former generation made special meals:
   - clear soup
   - potatoes, vegetable and some meat
   - dessert, mainly peaches from a can
   - coffee for the grown ups
   
   We don't make special meals anymore. We just ask what everyone likes.
   If we have the money we have a special dessert.
   
   
3. Do you have much green in your wardrobe? Does the color look good on you?
   
   No. Green makes me look pale.
   I needed a green shirt in the bagpipe band and it looked awful on me. So I had to use make up to make me look a bit normal.
   
   But I have green socks!! Christmas socks.
   
   
4. In school we put up giant green shamrocks and Leprechauns. We made green paper chains to decorate our classrooms.  What do you do to decorate?
   
   Nothing, as we don't celebrate it.
   
   Apart from that.
   
   With 4 autistic boys it was no fun decorating the room, because it made them feel not at home, but in strange surroundings.
   I used to have a lot of problems with them during the "decorated days" and I didn't know why.
   They were too small to tell me. 
   I saw similar behaviour when I was away with them, visiting other mothers they knew well, and I suddenly realized it might be the decoration. So one evening I took it away and the next morning they were fine.
   
   It made me evaluate the habit of puting things at the same place. So gradually I made my coffeetable a bit of a mess, with one or two familar objects in the middle. It resulted in them getting used to it and I could put something down without one or more of them getting upset. (Didn't waant the christmasdecorations up all year...)
   
   
   
   
                
   
   
   

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About **Syl

Syl: "Life is a chain of challenges. Sometimes the largest challenges are we ourselves. Facing life, facing others and facing yourself requires either a worryless attitude or plain courage. Most of the time it is dealing with judgement. Maybe life is about getting rid of it."