I love Holidays, and not just the present giving kind. I love the idea of taking a day and making something unique and special about it. Too often these days Holidays and celebrations have become these mass marketed machines created by greeting card companies and big business. While I love walking around stores during Christmas season just for ambiance, the holidays themselves have really lost their magic for me.
I try to take current popular holidays and make them my own. Adding something a little more special and unique into the mix. On Halloween I like to do "The Great Pumpkin" with my nephews; I get them to carve pumpkins and if the Great Pumpkin likes their work they are rewarded Halloween morning with little treats inside the pumpkin. Not only does this give us time to spend together to do something fun and creative, but it is fun for me because I get to play my version of Santa to them.
Every year pretty much without fail for 7 years or so, I purchased a Brian Froud artwork calendar of some sort. Hands down he is one of my favorite artists but also along with the traditional holidays, he lists some "Faerie Holidays" which I do my best to observe. Some examples of these holidays include:
January 2nd: Snowflake Matching day (also known as Fairy frustration day)
January 11th: All Mornings Eve: Breakfast is eaten at Midnight and Midnight snack is eaten at breakfast.
Febuary 10th: Elbow kissing day. A very difficult assignment so dome faeries chat and kiss each others elbows.
March 30th: Balderdash Day: Ridiculous games are played and all bald fairies run about without their moss and braken wigs.
You get the idea.
Making up your own holidays is your assignment for this post. Create your own Faerie type holidays. You can leave little notes on the day of the holiday describing its purpose (or lack thereof) in your tree mail box, or you can simply share with the children and people around you.
One example I have personally and I celebrate to this day is Saint Edwards day, named after Edward Scissorhands. This was the brainchild of my friends Cindy and Tara. on the first snow of the season you run about outside in the snow. Simple, effective, and no hallmark card needed.
I am going to attempt to sit down within the next week or two and list all of the Holidays on the Froud Faerie Calendar. Hopefully it will help inspire you. I would also like to find a nice public calendar type page where I can help to list all of the holiday ideas you come up with.
See you all next week, and in the meantime, keep wishing and keep dreaming!
