know what ain't nobody got time for? scrooges.

The day after a holiday, you're bound to read a handful of articles or Facebook statuses complaining about said holiday. Specifically, about us moms. The ones who they want to tone it down. They want to do away with the elves on shelves, the bunny dust from the Easter bunny, the reindeer food for Santa's reindeer, the pie on March 14th, all of it. Everyone is quick to applaud these articles and snark on the moms who have "too much time on their hands" (um, spare me). The thing is, know what doesn't take an ungodly amount of time? Putting a drop of green coloring in some scrambled eggs. You know what does? Devoting an entire day to criticizing people who use this opportunity to make magic and memories with their children. Everyone has their own family traditions and, you know, everyone has their own idea of fun. As a non-drinker, I never celebrated St. Patrick's Day before I had children. There was no bar crawling and green beer and dressing like some sort of trashy leprechaun. But I have a child now and suddenly this is one holiday that suddenly seems fun. I mean, if I devote four minutes to putting paint on a sponge and making footprints from the front door to the bathroom, my son can wake up with this gigantic smile on his face and giggling with the excitement that a leprechaun came to his house! If you would have asked me ten years ago if stamping paint on my tile was my idea of a good time, I would have stared at you like you were crazy. But truth is, I find this stuff fun.

So, I spent four minutes with some green paint and food coloring and my child got a kick out of the leprechaun who made green pee pee in his potty. He told everyone he encountered that day about the leprechaun. His day was made and I'm not entirely sure he even knows what a leprechaun is (for a while he was insisting it was a frog). I love this stuff. This is my idea of fun. Make fun of me all you want, but I get a kick out of this stuff. Everyone's complaining about those parents who hide gold coins in the front yard for their kids to find and I get all giddy and think about how I need to remember that one for next year. Because there won't be an endless amount of next years. Because one day they won't be little anymore and the magic won't be there anymore and then what? But like I keep saying, I do it because it's fun for me. If it isn't fun for you, don't do it. Think the elf is creepy? Then keep him off of your shelf. Think homemade Valentine's Day cards are absolutely ridiculous when they make boxed cards for a reason? Go buy those box cards proudly. But lay off the people who enjoy this sort of thing. Because we're not making fun of your hobbies. We're not trying to implement some rule where no one can have any interest different than what their neighbor has because, good grief, we all must do things the same.

I've read all sorts of crazy things today. I've read about how moms do these sorts of things to make motherhood a competition. That is wrong, and the only person in the competition is the one who created the idea of it. I've read about all the time I allegedly have on my hands (again, spare me). I've read about how this just confuses other children who didn't have leprechauns come to visit or makes their parents look bad. I believe in teaching our children that everyone celebrates the holidays differently. This doesn't seem such a crazy concept to me, perhaps because I grew up in a mixed religious area where not everyone had Santa or a Christmas tree. There were a lot of kids who, with Hanukkah as their primary holiday, had a Hanukkah bush and Hanukkah fairies and all sorts of things that as a Hanukkah-and-Christmas celebrator, I never had. It was never confusing. I never thought my parents should be imprisoned for not implementing some magical Hanukkah fairy. Everyone has their own traditions and holiday rituals. Everyone has their own way of celebrating love and magic and the holidays -- even the silly ones. My sister's good friend grew up celebrating Diwali and I don't seem to recall a time my sister ever stomped her foot crying that she didn't get a Diwali celebration. It is what it is. Everyone's family celebrates their own way. I'm sure there are tons of families out there with holiday traditions that Ethan will never experience and that's okay. Because that's their business.

Magic milk that turns green, courtesy of the leprechaun who came to visit

For as long as the magic is alive in my child's heart, I will go nuts with the holidays. We will craft. We will celebrate. We will wear silly outfits and get giddy over imaginary animals and imaginary seasonal visitors. For as long as that glimmer is alive in his eye and the smile takes over his face when he sees the magic in front of him, I will find this sort of thing fun. And maybe it's a silly thing to find fun, but I've never been cool. And I'm okay with that.