A member of the Ancient Order of the Hibernians from San Antonio, TX, has launched an online petition to have St. Patrick’s Day officially declared a national holiday in the United States.

As the recession has crushed the retail market in the past few years, stores have been pushing the holiday shopping season earlier and earlier in an attempt to stay in the black. (The term Black Friday is based on the fact that stores used to count on the day after Thanksgiving to get them out of the red for the year and into the black, making a profit.)

One of the harder challenges I have had to face during my time abroad was the fact that I would not be spending the American holiday of Thanksgiving with my family. I have a pretty small family and we do not have the stereotypical large family feast that has become synonymous with the big day, and even though I would not be missing a huge family celebration, I did miss the thought of being near to loved ones. This changed however, when an American friend of mine invited me to an American Thanksgiving celebration that she was planning with some of the other American students. They had also extended the invitation to some Irish friends as well, who all responded right away to the invite.

Labor Day is a little like Christmas -- people have forgotten the meaning of it. They just want the presents, the birth of Christ gets lost somewhere in the wrappings.

Dozens of volunteers from the Irish community packed into the back room of the Aisling Irish Community Center in Yonkers on Monday, November 21 to prepare the annual Thanksgiving dinners for the homeless.

Moneygall continues to bask in the glow of President Obama’s recent visit with major celebrations there on July 4th.