St. Patrick’s Day, TJM Style!

We’re big fans of St. Patrick’s Day, and quite fond of green here at TJM. So naturally, we have some thoughts about the day honoring the guy who led the snakes out of Ireland. Here’s what we had to say:

Lisa Carroll

I love to have my Shamrock Shake from Mc Donald’s, and this year I’m going to create a healthy version at home for one. [Editor's note: A healthy Shamrock Shake? Where's the fun in that?]

Matt Maio

My favorite St. Patrick’s Day food and drink would be the cliché, but delicious corned beef and cabbage paired with a Guinness. Green beer to me is gross. Why would I want boring [name redacted beer] with gross green dye in it if I don’t normally drink that?

In my previous job as a bartender, the green beer thing was horrible. You go home at night with green fingers from having to drip food coloring all day. We really should stop the green beer trend and just stick to Guinness, Jameson, and Baileys Irish Cream.

Shannon Moore

St. Patty's Day is such a fun holiday to celebrate. My husband and I traveled to Ireland in '15 and absolutely fell in love. As a kid growing up, we got all the tales that went along with the day, from leprechauns and their pots of gold, to four leaf clover luck, to St. Patrick leading the snakes out of Ireland. [Editor’s note: Wonder if he could do the same for that black snake that hangs out by the breakroom door?]

Every year, we typically do the traditional St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef and cabbage. Supported by Guiness, Jameson, Irish soda bread and Kerrygold butter. We don't traditionally play any games or watch any Riverdance, although the animated movie Riverdance (was previously shown on Netflix) might be a good one to start adding to the list. 

I have Irish heritage on my mom's dad's side somewhere.  His last name was “Dunn.”  I just never sat down and researched too far back. I tried Ancestry, but haven't nailed down enough facts to get me more of the little “hints.”  

Rick Cundiff

Well, my family heritage is Welsh, and my wife’s is German/English – close enough to Irish for a day? We usually go out with friends to an Irish-themed restaurant in town. And yes, we order the corned beef and cabbage. But no green beer. Matt’s right about that one.

Deanna Thomas

We have the tradition of celebrating my husband’s birthday every March 14th. He was originally due on St. Patrick’s Day and would have been named Patrick (kinda corny in my opinion, but who am I to judge?). But, as things would have it, he was not born on St. Patrick’s Day. Instead, he was born a few days early, so my in-laws changed his first name and made Patrick his middle name. [Editor’s note: Born on 3-14? They could have named him Pi.]

Justin MacDonald

I’m a BIG fan of corned beef and cabbage for Saint Patrick’s Day.  It’s a must!  My wife found a super easy recipe for making it in a pressure cooker, and it’s been a highlight for the past few years.

As far as my Gaelic heritage, it’s hotly contested as to whether my surname, “MacDonald/McDonald” is Irish or Scottish.  Both sides of my father’s family have been traced back and in the U.S. for a long time.  His mother’s side can be traced all the way back to Germany in the 1700’s, but his father’s side stops in the early 1800’s and we’re not totally sure the actual origin country. 

I DO know that our name was changed from McDonald to MacDonald in the early 1900s.  When I was growing up, it was suggested that it was changed to distance ourselves from being Irish, and to hint at being Scottish. 

After doing my own research, I have a sneaking suspicion that it might have something to do with my great-great-grandfather and trying to distance ourselves from him.  (Definitely don’t/do Google Henry McDonald in Terre Haute, Indiana, lol) [Editor’s note: It's a killer story – literally.]

All that to say, I subscribe to the notion that on St. Patrick’s Day, everyone is Irish (if they so choose)!