In my house, there are 5 "candy holidays" ranked in the following order:
- Halloween
- Easter
- Christmas
- Valentine's Day
- St. Patrick's Day
Wait.
St. Patrick's Day? Why St. Patrick's Day, you might ask?
Well, I'll tell you why. Somewhere along the line, some super-dee duper parents decided to make up a new tradition. Apparently, they got bored somewhere between Valentine's Day and Easter, and decided their kids needed even more candy. So they created a new "tradition" that goes a little something like this:
Leave your boot by the front door on St. Patrick's Day Eve and leprechauns will fill it with candy while you sleep.
Seriously.
The first time I heard about this was when Celiac son was about five years old. One St. Patrick's Day Eve, I was cleaning up before bed, and I noticed only one of his snow boots in the doorway. Picking it up and putting it away didn't phase me, as cleaning up and putting things away is part of my every day routine. The next morning, he came running down the stairs, and almost immediately began sobbing and crying…..something about….. leprechauns? I had NO IDEA what he was talking about. When he calmed down enough to explain to me "how it works" I quickly realized that I was the leprechaun and it was my responsibility to fill this boot.
I mumbled and I grumbled and I called all my girlfriends and asked if they had heard about this new "tradition." Some of them had heard about it from other school moms, some were going along with it, and others in my circles were boycotting the leprechaun. I decided right then and there that I was going to boycott it too.
Stupid made up tradition.
I was never going along with it.
But if there's one thing I've learned as a mom, it's never say never. The following St. Patrick's Day Eve, I had forgotten all about the leprechauns, but Celiac son had not. At about 8:00 that night, he not only set up an inflatable mattress so that he could camp out by the front door in hopes that he could catch a glimpse of his leprechaun, but he also set up an elaborate trap to catch his leprechaun.
So now here I was, having to rush out to buy candy on St. Patrick's Day Eve, as well as green feathers, fake gold and other leprechaun paraphernalia to make it look like he almost caught the leprechaun. Fantastic. Now celiac son is going to go to school, tell all his classmates that he almost caught a leprechaun, and that his leprechaun left him candy. And now all the other moms are going to hate ME for introducing this new "tradition" to their already crazy busy lives.
Well, here we are in 2014, another St. Patrick's Day Eve, but this one our first "Celiac" St. Patrick's Day Eve. It's 8pm -ish, and what do you know? I've forgotten about the damn leprechauns again. Celiac son is placing his boot in front of the door. I call hubby, who is driving peanut allergy son home from hockey, and tell him they need to stop and pick up some candy. He asks a reasonable question "what candy do you want me to get?"
Shoot.
I have to figure out which candies are gluten free, and I have to HURRY, because hubby is not happy about this added stop after a long weekend.
So what's a Celiac mom to do?
Internet.
I google "
Hershey's gluten free candy" and I get a complete list of Hersheys' gluten free candy options, as well as a shout out about certain candies that are not gluten free (for examples, did you know that Rolos are gluten free, but Rolos 'minis" are not).
Thank God for Hershey's! Not only was I completely impressed that I had this information at my fingertips in seconds, but I am dually impressed by
Hershey's Gluten Free practices. Thank you, Hershey's, for making so many gluten free candy possibilities for my Celiac son!
Finally, if you are reading this and you have heard about the leprechaun tradition, I apologize for my participation. The leprechaun is parental peer pressure at it's finest!
Leprechaun Image Credit: http://ferrebeekeeper.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/leprechaun5.jpg
