St. Patrick's Day 2016

I woke up to curl Sophie's hair before taking her to her early morning seminary class and found her dressed from head to toe in green.

"Are you going to make gold coins this year like you always do?" My St. Patrick's Day loving daughter asked. When she and Ian were tiny, I started a tradition of dipping mini Ritz cheese sandwich crackers in melted butterscotch chips to give to the kids from the Leperchaun.

After I returned from taking Sophie to school, I poured bowls of cereal for Isaac and Katie. "I wonder if the Leperchaun turned the milk green?" Katie asked with excitement.

Usually I put a dot of green food coloring in the bottom of their cereal bowls before I pour the cereal, but today I forgot. I grabbed a gallon of milk that was 1/4 full from the fridge and quickly poured some green food coloring in. Just as I was finishing my secret mission, Katie popped her head around the corner and looked at me. I fumbled as I rushed to put the food coloring away and give the milk a shake to mix it.

I brought the green milk in to pour it on their cereal. "Look the Leperchaun did turn the milk green!"

After a few minutes, Katie said, "Mom, I saw you put the food coloring in the milk."

"You caught me--pretending to be the Leperchaun is a game I like to play with you," I said. Then I watched her face very closely to see if she was disappointed or if the wheels of understanding would start spinning in motion. The night Ian caught me being the tooth fairy, he was so upset. As he was taking it in, he paused and said, "Wait, does this mean the Easter Bunny is you too? Oh, no . . . Don't tell me . . . Santa!" And, just like that all of the magic was gone for him. But, he was getting pretty old. He was in the 5th grade already. I was sad for him but I was also thinking, "Hon. You gotta know."

Katie is still young at six. "Are you sad?" I asked. "No," she said. "Did you already know?" I asked. "I think I thought it, but I didn't think about it all the way before now," she said.

Crossing my fingers she doesn't think about it too hard. Happy St. Patty's Day!