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Friday, May 8, 2009

Mother's Day Trivia

Fantastic Friday! *waves*

I subbed my novel, Bloodlines, this week and received a request for the full manuscript! Now, I’m anxiously awaiting a response. You know the routine…can the remaining chapters hold the interest of the editor the way the first three chapters did? Will the editor like it, love it or hate it? Then on top of that I have my husband who is trying to tell me he knows more about this business than I do and how I should have handled the situation differently. *bangs head against the wall*

But my topic for today is Mother’s Day. All of us women either are a mother or have a mother, so let’s celebrate it a couple of days early with some facts. All received from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother):

Anna Jarvis founded the modern day Mother’s Day holiday and in the United States it is always celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Ms. Jarvis created Mother’s Day at the starting of the 20th century. However, in the 16th century the Christians and early pagans celebrated Mothering Sunday. Most countries derived their Mother’s Day holiday from the United State’s original celebration, with the exception of Mothering Sunday in the UK.

Mother’s Day became so commercialized after nine years that Anna Jarvis became a major adversary to the holiday. She saw the purchase of greeting cards as being too lazy to pen something more personal or heartfelt. In the end, Anna Jarvis wished she had never started Mother’s Day. Ms. Jarvis felt so strongly about Mother’s Day that she spent the remainder of her life and all of her inheritance fighting against the commercial abuse of the celebration.

Here are some staggering facts according to Wikipedia: “[A]ccording to IBISWorld, a publisher of business research, Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments—and another $68 million on greeting cards. Mother's Day will generate about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue in 2008, with custom gifts like mother’s rings.”

Wow!

I was asked this year by my husband and two sons, “What do you want for Mother’s Day.” My response was “nothing”. Seriously, there isn’t anything I want and I do not need to be honored for something I feel blessed to be 365 days a year. Besides, the best gifts have always come from the heart, which means they are homemade. All those store bought gifts…*shrugs*…I can’t tell you where they are. All those flowers...I hope they're dust by now. But those homemade ones, I have them all in special spots throughout the house. I’ll cherish those until the day I die. Some of my favorites, the book marks with their fingerprints on them, little ceramic dogs and cats painted with enthusiasm for me, cards with their misspelled words of love, but most of all, I’ll remember the smiles of pride when they hand me those gifts and their big hugs when I exclaim over them.

So, what do you think? Do you want paper or plastic? LOL No, I’m just kidding. But if you’re a mother, what do you prefer as a Mother’s Day gift? What have been some of your favorite gifts? If you’re not a mother, what kind of gifts do you give to your mother on Mother’s Day?

To all the mothers out there, I hope each of you have a very Happy Mother’s Day!

7 Moonbeams (comments):

Unknown said...

Mothering Sunday was March 22nd, I blogged about the difference in the days then at http://acrossthepond-storyheart.blogspot.com/2009/03/happy-mothers-day-across-pond.html. It was as you have stated an American lady who thought it a good idea to move it to May or celebrate it in May. Hallmark actually got hold of it and commercialized it, then brought out fathers day, Grand mothers right down to second cousin twice removed day. The thought they had was nice day but more flowers etc will be available i May from March. For me though Mothers Day/ Mothering Sunday will always be March celebrating mothers earth, mother church and all mothers. It is the only one I really celebrate, not even really wanting anything on Fathers Day, though having to grin and bare it for the sake of the kids.
How can I say this without sounding to ..hmm. well...
To me it is just another case of American taking an existing idea celebration and hyping it up to make money. Just look at St Patrick's Day which in Ireland itself is more a religious day and not hyped at all like the USA.

Molly Daniels said...

I want to be taken out to dinner, and a day to relax; the freedom to read all day if I choose; to bury myself in the current manuscript if my muse is cooperative. Maybe this sounds selfish, but a day to myself would be heavenly! I'm in the house 24/7 with a crabby spouse and 5-yr-old; a day away from everyone is what I'm craving this year.

Sheila Deeth said...

Thanks. It was interesting to see why the British Mothering Sunday is different. Of course, it always confuses me, and I never remember to send greetings to my Mum on the right day.

As to what I want: going out to the Star Trek movie would be fun. But most of all I want some cash so I can order a copy of the book I just put on Lulu.

I'm not convinced my guys will even remember, but that's life. Husband's been ill. He's got a good excuse.

Carrie said...

See, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Valentine's Day, they all have something wrong with them - the word "Day". It's really a bad thing we're teaching future generations.

Think about it, we make a big deal out of doing something nice for our parent or a loved one one day a year and the rest doesn't matter?

No, that's entire the wrong kind of thinking! We need to be teaching our future generations that our parents and those we love are always special and should be shown that as often as possible.

While I don't mean that we should be getting each other presents everyday, we should be doing something special for each other every day, or as often as we can.

Hey, I appreciate when my husband does some of the cleaning. That's a great thing in my book and I thank him for it. I also thank him when he cooks dinner. Yes, small things that need to be done, but no one says they need to be thankless!

It's the same thing about parents. They're there everyday and they should feel they matter to you on more than just specially designed Hallmark Holidays.

Molly - you definitely do not sound selfish. Everyone needs to take time for themselves, to recharge - the soul, spirit, mood - in order to be the happy person we want to be. I'll bet your crabby spouse feels the same. This economy seems to have that effect on a lot of people these days. I bet he might appreciate a day where he didn't have to think about any of his responsibilities either.

I don't see my parents often, but I try to make sure they know they are important to me, I don't need one day a year to do that.

Gracen Miller said...

Storyheart, I actually agree with you on the "grin and bear it part". I wish we could skip the holiday, as I said in my blog, I don't need to be honored one day a year.

Like Carrie, I agree, we should make our mothers feel special all year long.

But, if we're going to be forced to celebrate it, I can't think of a better gift than what Molly asked for! Molly, that so did NOT sound selfish at all! I'm like you. I need my "me days", but I do get them periodically throughout the year, so I don't need mother's day to ask for one.

Sheila, I'm sorry to hear you're husband's been ill. *hugs ya* Mine can get in moods too, sometimes for a good reason and sometimes for no reason. *laughs* I still love him though and have no desire to trade him in for a new model. The new Star Trek movie would be nice to go see, or even the new X-Men movie. They're both top on my list.

Thanks everyone for your comments! To the mothers, again...Happy Mother's Day! To everyone else, I hope you have a very happy and exciting weekend!

Margay Leah Justice said...

Gracen, thanks for posting about Mother's Day. It's nice to get some recognition, but it should be every day, not just once a year. Anyway, my favorite gifts are usually of the handmade variety. My older daughter always makes these fantastic cards that have gotten more elaborate over the years with each new technique she learned in art class! I always tell my girls that a day without them fighting is the best gift of all!
Margay

Christine said...

I LOVE THIS! If you’re interested in more Mother’s Day trivia, I have a quiz on my blog. Stop by www.weartostandout.com/blog/mothers-day-quiz and let me know how you did. xoxo, WearToStandOut