Her Irish Eyes Were Smiling

irishMy grandmother was born and grew up in Ireland. Every year around St. Patrick’s Day, there’s something I like to do to remember “Nana”, and also to help get into the spirit of the holiday!

“Make paper garlands of shamrocks?” (You ask.)

No . . . ( I answer.)

“Go to a St Patrick’s Day parade?” (You guess.)

Nope! ( I smile.)

“C’mon Crystal – just say it!” (You sigh. 😉 )

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Well . . . although I also do this at other times of the year, I especially like to do it for St Patrick’s Day.

First, I gather my supplies.

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After mixing, kneading, and baking, I have this.

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If you have never tasted homemade Irish Bread, you must try it sometime! I do mean homemade though, because the stuff they sell in stores is nothing like real Irish Bread!

Labeling the store version as “Irish Bread” is like comparing a loaf of generic, air-filled, white sandwich bread in a plastic bag to a mouth-watering, home-baked, crusty, loaf of yeast bread.

Here – let me give you some to try, along with a little butter and nice hot cup of tea!

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Whenever my grandmother prepared this snack for me, her Irish eyes were smiling. If you are not familiar with it, think of a combination of cake and bread – sweet but with a heavier texture than cake would have, and liberally sprinkled with regular raisins, golden raisins, and caraway seeds. A recipe can be found here.

A wish for you on this St. Patrick’s Day . . .

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May your mornings bring joy,

and your evenings bring peace . . .

May your troubles grow less

as your blessings increase!

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Friday Favorites

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I know, I know! We’re a week into the New Year already, so why am I showing something Christmassy for this week’s Friday Favorites?

Well, just before I close the holiday posts, I thought you might like to see my favorite gift given this year!

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This Christmas version of a money tree was lots of fun to put together for my Mum & Dad. Every year it becomes harder and harder to figure out what to give them. They have 6 grown kids buying gifts for them, so the good ideas are dwindling. They don’t need any more knick-knacks!

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This year, I decided to give them money, but I wanted to do more than just put it in an envelope. Money trees are nothing new, but I thought a Christmas money tree might be fun and a little out of the ordinary.

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I found this pretty tabletop tree with the idea that they could re-use it as a holiday decoration in the future. It’s showy but doesn’t take up too much real estate when in storage!
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We gathered an assortment of bills in different denominations, rolled each one, and tied them to the branches with gold curling ribbon. As you can see, a dollar coin with little green bows served as the tree topper! (Yep, that’s Lady Liberty holding her torch.)

For the final touch, I printed a small hangtag that read: “Sometimes money does grow on trees!”

Actually, I wanted to show this to you right after we put it together, but that might have spoiled the surprise for Mum & Dad – they’ve been known to stop by the blog now and then! 😉

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Friday Favorites

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For this week’s “Friday Favorites” may I present an ornament I’ve just finished making!

This “mini-sized” Christmas Stocking measures about 4 inches from top to toe, and it was so much fun to knit. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out – especially because it’s been a long time since I’ve made anything with a charted design and I was a little worried about it.

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Julie of “Little Cotton Rabbits” designed the pattern and you can find it by clicking here. Julie is an extraordinarily talented lady, who knits the most delightful little rabbits and a whole assortment of other wonderful things!

The tiny bear above just happened to be in my stash of craft supplies. I have a big box of odds and ends that I find on sale and put away for future projects. They really come in handy! This little fella was just the perfect size to snuggle in a mini stocking.

Now that you’ve seen him, I’ll put him on the tree 🙂

Once the holiday rush is over, I think I’ll start making a few friends for him . . . for next Christmas!

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