365 Days of Celebration

One of my New Year's resolutions for 2010 is to celebrate a holiday every day, or at least attempt to celebrate a holiday every day.

This came to me when I was looking up birthdays of random famous historical figures to put on my desk calendar. Why was I doing that? Mostly because January seems to be a month devoid of birthdays among my friends and family. It made me sad to look at the birthday column on the calendar and see it so empty. Obviously Martin Luther King, Jr. is a big one. Among my favorite birthdays for January, I found Benjamin Franklin (the 17th), Rubber Duckie and Ernie (yes, of Sesame Street fame - the 13th and the 28th, respectively), and Robert Burns (the 25th), who seems an apt one for me to celebrate this year, as I'm going to Scotland in May.

While searching for birthdays, I noticed that January 3rd was the Festival of Sleep and that sounded appealing to me, so I researched it. It's described as a day to catch up on sleep and to let your body recover after the busyness of the holidays. You are advised to sleep in, or take naps, or stay in bed all day - you get the idea. It sounded too great to pass up. On Sunday, I slept in. And went to bed earlyish. It was glorious and I really did feel better. Plus, it was kind of neat to be observing a new "holiday," especially one that didn't involve too much effort on my part. It was decadent without being expensive or commercial. It was nice.

After this, I looked at all the other holidays for January and the rest of the year. Turns out there really is a day out there for everyone. Why not celebrate some of them? It seems weird and like a lot of work, but I have a bit of time on my hands. It can easily be translated into a more common New Year's resolution - try something new. And, even though it's cheesy, it's a way to make every day special. Plus, it gives me something to do to get through the winter doldrums.

To bring everyone up to speed. It started with the Festival of Sleep. Monday was Trivia Day - that didn't go so well, mostly because I was unprepared. Was I supposed to ask other people trivia? Was I supposed to just read up on a lot of trivia? It was kind of a bust. Tuesday was National Bird Day. Birdwatching was out of the question since it was about 4 degrees outside. I did read Audubon's Birds of America and learned some things I didn't know. I would go into detail, but this post is long enough. Today was Cuddle Up and Bean Day. I didn't eat any beans but I looked at seeds online. And I cuddled up, mostly because it's so cold out! Tomorrow is Old Rock Day. It's a day to appreciate old rocks and fossils. I don't have any old rocks or fossils, so maybe it's back to reading about them again. If you have any, dust them off and admire them!

More to come.