Well, St. Patrick's Day madness has once again descended on our house, and as so many families do, we put out the tradtional Leprechaun Traps^™ in hopes of catching one of the wee folk. I'm not 100% sure what exactly we would do with a leprechaun if we actually caught one, but I know it has something to to with tiny little rubber hoses and the locations of various pots o' gold. The sad thing is that this actually constitutes a more substantial long-term financial plan than anything I have in place right now, so I'm kind of hoping that something comes of this little exercise.

The design, as you can see, is the classic Elmer Fudd/Wabbit Hunting box-and-stick affair. The idea is that the leprechaun follows the path of counterfeit gold, grabs the fake coin attached to the toilet paper tube with string, pulls it and the box slams down, trapping him or her. The beds are in the traps just to provide a nice place for the little guys to rest while incarcerated. If things all go according to plan, there should be two little pissed-off green guys spilling their guts around 8:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. I can't wait to spend some of that fat leprechaun cash!

It remains to be seen which approach will work better: the calm, rational sign stating simply "Stay until 8:00 a.m." or the life-like leprechaun decoy acting as bait. Either way, I love the fact that both of my kids are so willing to give themselves over to these flights of fancy, and I hope that both of them will hold on to a little of this faith as they grow. There's always room for a little silliness in one's life, no matter how old you are.

(Click on the pictures to make them bigger!)