Every Day a Holiday

Somewhere along the parenting road, I got into the habit of proclaiming every day to be a holiday.  Not in the sense that I was embracing every day to be a joyous maternal experience (because let's face it, when there's spit-up in your hair and your shirt is on backward, joy is the last thing on your mind) but wielded as a tool to turn around a disastrous car ride...

"Cael, guess what?  It's 'Silence Day'!  For the next ten minutes, no one in the whole world can talk!  Ready?"

...or to put an end to a lengthy dinner...

"Graham, did I tell you that today is 'Vegetable Day'?  Today only, if you finish your vegetables, you'll grow twice as many muscles as you normally would?"

...or even for my own twisted pleasure.

"Boys!  It's 'Help Your Mother Day'.  What would help me the most right now is a cookie and a diet soda.  Think you can make that happen?"

While my fictional holidays have been quite effective, they have the unfortunate side effect of making me very skeptical of authentic holidays.  But when Joel, hot from our family bike ride in this sweltering heat wave, announced that it was National Ice Cream Day and worthy of a cold treat, I suspended my skepticism and embraced the excuse to cool down with a Pecan Chunk Freeze from Parlor City Ice Cream in Cedar Rapids.



It was good and creamy and it was so cold.  And the best part was that it was guilt-free because it was our national responsibility to celebrate these important holidays that enrich our lives and celebrate our patriotism.

But then a quick internet search revealed that National Ice Cream Day isn't until July 21st.

Clearly we've yet to encounter Honesty Day.