For us, NEW YEAR’S EVE is a time where we invite family & friends over and enjoy pizza, nachos, appetizers, whatever the group is hungry for. We stay up for fireworks as well of course.

NEW YEAR’S DAY is usually just the two of us (or our daughter once upon a time). The main meal features ham (my wife makes the best!) and baked beans and hopefully something good for dessert.

Having been married for more than a few decades, VALENTINE’S DAY is still about flowers, candy and a good meal together. Bucking the cliched trend of red roses, I opt instead for white roses with a pink blush to them. Lastly, I pick up a pint of Baskin-Robbins Daiquiri Ice too – then love is in the air!

Although I know tons of people associate ST. PATRICK’S DAY with beer-drinking leprechauns and rivers dyed green, truly the only way we celebrate is making the attempt to wear green clothing (being that we’re mostly of English and French descent). Afterall, who wants to get pinched? (Do they still do that?)

EASTER really begins on Ash Wednesday and culminates on the celebration of Jesus Christ’s resurrection on Sunday. We celebrate with church on Sunday morning (usually) and another ham dinner with family…plus of course Easter baskets and an egg hunt (for the little ones).

MEMORIAL DAY is a day we remember those who fought to provide the freedoms we still enjoy in the United States. On a side note, it’s a day I also associate with the birth of our daughter, as on our due date, we were walking in our neighborhood cemetery to help things progress and recall all the flags on the graves. I otherwise try to visit my parents’ graves as well to place flowers on them several hours away.

The first thing I do when approaching our wedding ANNIVERSARY is to see what the gift for that specific year is, and then plan accordingly. Otherwise, it’s an elegant dinner out and white roses (they never get old) and just quality time together.

INDEPENDENCE DAY, otherwise known as the Fourth of July, includes awesome barbeque for lunch and/or dinner, time again with family and friends with lots of outdoor summer games involved, maybe a baseball game with fireworks after – or just fireworks themselves.

Fortunately, I work for an organization that allows us an extra half day of paid time off in observance of most of the “big” holidays throughout the year, including LABOR DAY. The extra-long weekend makes for good relaxation, visiting family, great food (notice a theme), and just time to recharge the batteries before returning to what is the start of my busiest time with work (4th quarter).

As a kid, I remember HALLOWEEN (as I’ve noted on other posts) going door to door and coming home after trick-or-treating with literally bags of candy. My brother and I would sort them all out and then trade for different things we each liked. Today, it’s more about giving out the treats and hoping your favorites get left behind when you turn out the porch light and hunker down with TV.

Funny, the first thing I think of when contemplating THANKSGIVING is a tradition that sort of sprang up with me and my Mother-in-Law many years ago. The afternoon before the holiday, we would together prepare the turkey for the oven, which included removing the neck and that weird bag of organs from the turkey’s carcass. Weirdly bonding and we still laugh about it. We then celebrate and tend to tell one thing we’re thankful for by going around the table the next day with the whole family.

The reason for the season is my first thought when contemplating CHRISTMAS. It’s so much more than presents and family visits (or stress). Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ and the hope his birth brought to our world. On the secular side of things, it is about gifts being given (which echoes the gifts from the three wisemen), spending time with those you don’t get to as much throughout the year and just relaxing into the new year.