Monday, May 10, 2010

Mother's Day

Every year we celebrate Mother's Day and show our love and appreciation for some of the hardest working women in our lives. But how exactly did Mother's Day come about?

"The United States celebrates Mother's Day on the second Sunday in May. In the 1880s and 1890s there were several attempts to establish a Mother's Day, but they didn't succeed beyond the local level. The holiday was created by Anna Jarvis in Grafton, West Virginia, in 1908 as a day to honor one's mother. Jarvis wanted to accomplish her mother's dream of making a celebration for all mothers, although the idea didn't take off until she enlisted the services of wealthy Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. She kept promoting the holiday until President Woodrow Wilson made it an official national holiday in 1914. The holiday eventually became so highly commercialized that many, including its founder, Anna Jarvis, considered it a "Hallmark Holiday", i.e. one with an overwhelming commercial purpose. Jarvis eventually ended up opposing the holiday she had helped to create. She died in 1948, regretting what had become of her holiday. In the United States, Mother's Day remains one of the biggest days for sales of flowers, greeting cards, and the like; it is also the biggest holiday for long-distance telephone calls." - Wikipedia

Although a bit of a sad story, I think it is always interesting to see the history behind such holidays and how they came to be recognized and celebrated nationwide.

For us, we settled on two dozen roses for the special women in our lives, and (ironically?) a hallmark greeting card.



It was a wonderful day filled with good food, even better company and plenty of laughs and good times, even if one side of our family was 2,000 miles away - we were still together in spirit.

How did you celebrate Mother's Day? Did you pamper that special woman in your life? Were you on the receiving end of Mother's Day? Was it a day of relaxation and indulgences? Was it filled with plenty of good times with family and friends? Let's talk Moms.

Did you enjoy this post? Please subscribe for free updates in the future and to see what we're up to next!

3 comments:

  1. I had some of both. I was on the receiving end from my hubby and kids and also entertained my mom and family. We visited with friends and I had a relaxing day all in all. Really nice!

    The flowers are beautiful!

    -heather

    ReplyDelete
  2. My hubster does it up right every year, with a big brunch, flowers, cards hidden everywhere, and the dinner of my choosing. Thom and Savannah made triple berry trifle for dessert, and we all went to see a chick flick- Iron Man 2! Hey, I like explosions...

    ReplyDelete
  3. i think I gave my Mom an awesome mother's day gift......i moved home the day before mother's day and the day before that she got to see me get my master's degree!

    ReplyDelete

We love and read all comments, but please no spam, hateful/hurtful comments, drama or bashing. Thank you!

Related Posts with Thumbnails