Growing up, all holidays were fully celebrated in my house—including St. Patrick's Day. We all made sure to have green shirts on, but that was only the beginning of the festivities. We had green EVERYTHING. Green potatoes, green cornbread, green juice, and even green tapioca pudding for dessert. Along with the green shirts and green food, we would sometimes have Irish music on. If you can think of anything St. Patrick's themed, I promise we had it.

In 2008, St. Patrick's Day became even more of a celebration.

During the Summer before that March, we adopted a dog named Nick. The kind people we adopted him from told us all about Nick's adorable personality, how well-trained he was, and that his birthday falls on St. Patrick's Day! Nick was the cutest thing you've ever seen in your whole entire life. He's a fluffy little ball of black and grey fur, and he's the most lovable thing—even though some people like to say he looks like a dirty mop. As soon as I saw him, I knew he was the puppy for me, and my eight year old self was so excited to have a puppy of my own!

He wasn't even one yet when we adopted him, so he was a little skittish. When we got home with, I just wanted to hold and love on my new best friend. I'm pretty sure we scared the absolute daylights out of him on his first night there, though. My brother didn't know that we had adopted a puppy, and he came flailing through the front door because he walked into a spider web—which of course made Nick run and hide as fast as he could.

He soon warmed up to us and became part of the family. Nick just wants to snuggle and play all the time—he's the sweetest dog you could ever imagine. He cuddles when someone cries, and he's always so excited to meet new people. We dressed up together for Halloween, he got gifts on Christmas, and it was finally time for his birthday in March!

We kept the green tradition and had Nick join in, of course. He got a new toy and the world's tiniest plate of all the festive food. I've never seen a dog wag his tail so fast before! I'm sure he was the happiest puppy on the planet. Since then, he has had 9 more birthdays, and we've always followed the tradition. Every year, he gets his gift and his food, and he loves it every time. St. Patrick's Day is coming up, and he'll be 10. We'll make sure it's a great birthday since the old man has finally made it to double digits.

Happy birthday, buddy. We love you.