February 12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday. Well, that is nice. How do we honor it? Mostly with a writing on the calendar, some don't even mark it.
When I was young, way back in 19xx, we would get a half day holiday from school for Abe.
We would get another half day for George Washington on February 22. And of course we all played and partied Valentine's day, February 14. February was a short month as it was, having these three holidays just made it the best of months for school.
Are the kids getting shortchanged today? Yes, having President's Day on a Monday ruins it all for school kids. You see, the parents are likely to be off also. All day. That makes for planned family activities, which leaves the kids feeling they might just as well be in school.
The good old days were good that way. We always felt those two half days were special, just for kids. We could play kid things away from school, sometimes away from parents. Freedom, just to do our own thing.
Can you see why older people like the good old days? There are jillions of other reasons too.
Sadly my only reminder it's President's Day is when my mailbox is empty. No one in Lubbock recognizes is it. Most don't even get off at all.
ReplyDelete1. Families seldom do "planned family activities." Probably Mom/Step-mom will get caught up on personal things, and Dad/Step-dad will tinker with his toys, leaving the kids too their friends.
ReplyDelete2. Your parents were farmers. Didn't days off from school mean work around the farm?
I'm not really a big fan of ol' Abe. He was very different in real life than the sanitized hero that most text books present.
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