St. Patrick's Day

I think I finally have a St. Patrick's Day routine down now. I made Guinness stew with soda bread for dinner. The butcher gave me a hard time when I asked for stew meat and not corned beef. He made a face when I said I was making stew instead, it wasn't until I clarified that it was Guinness stew that he seemed to approve. New this year was cookie dough so I could use my large, shamrock cookie cutter.My Aunt T gave me a used Irish linen table cloth for my birthday. We don't normally exchange gifts, but she happened upon it at a church rummage sale. It is in great condition and has Celtic knotwork and shamrocks on it. I added a vintage handkerchief as a centerpiece and a bouquet of daffodils which always seem so St. Patty's to me. The weather has been odd though so I only had one sad daffodil in bloom. Odd especially since I bought a bunch of bulbs from the Wooden Shoe in the fall and Mr. W was kind enough to plant them for me in November. So I had to buy daffodils from the grocery store. So decadent! I also added a Longaberger shamrock basket and the Waterford crystal crucifixes. I didn't have the energy to set up the dining room table, so I wanted the kitchen setting to look especially nice.
I would like to return to the All Ireland Cultural Society's festival, but decided I wasn't up for nursing in public for half the day. I feel confident we can return next year.
My little helper wasn't in the best of behavior at dinner so he didn't get a cookie. I could tell that he wasn't going to make it so I kept the cookie dough chilled until Friday so that we could have a little St. Patrick's day tea. We used a smaller tea pot shaped cookie cutter to take advantage of all the dough. I ought to make cookies everyday based upon how well I can get a little boy to behave knowing cookies are in his future. I'm not above bribery!We had a nice little tea, me drinking from a tea cup my dad brought back from Ireland, and him drinking milk from his crazy glass with the green lid. Because green is his favorite color. I can't wait for the baby to be big enough to sit in his highchair and join us.