Rage Against the Minivan: Let’s bring the holidays down a notch

A friend of mine shared this post on Facebook this morning.  I clicked on it because I was mostly intrigued by the blog name, not so much the post.  It reminded me of this picture my sister sent me after we got our minivan!  But the post is excellent!  It's not long, its funny, but most of all, it's true!
 

Rage Against the Minivan: Let’s bring the holidays down a notch:

"Today was St. Patrick’s Day, a holiday I had completely forgotten about until

Jafta stumbled into the living room at about 11:30pm last night..."

 I'm thankful that my kids are still young enough to not get the full exposure of public school pressure over holidays.  My oldest is only in pre-k this year, and while they have celebrated the larger holidays, there is none of this nonsense over a new made up holiday every week.

I believe they had a party at Halloween, the Christmas party was cancelled because of a snow day, and the kids exchanged Valentines.  Thankfully, the only thing he brought home from St. Patrick's Day was a shamrock necklace the kids made in class.

For Valentine's, I was so excited to do the store bought box of Valentines with my son this year.  I found a box of Phineas and Ferb Valetnine cards with pencils at the dollar store!  We sat at the kitchen table with his list of classmates, and he got to choose which card to give to each of his friends.  He printed his name and their name on each and every card.  I was so proud of him!

He did come home that day with a small amount of candy, but after sharing a couple pieces with his sister it was just a small treat.  I'm ok with that!  If he'd have come home with a Halloween size till, I'd probably have thrown it all away!  And we didn't even get very much for Halloween last year.  We went trick-or-treating late, and many people were already out of candy.  I'm going to remember that for future trick-or-treating excursions.  We still get the fun of a walk around the neighborhood seeing the kids in costume, but a lot fewer calories in the bucket at the end of the night!

Just like in the original post, we don't celebrate St. Patrick's Day around here.  I've never understood the allure of this holiday.  I didn't even wear green, and I didn't suggest the kids do it either.  If I was going to do anything, it would have been something like the shamrock craft he'd done at school.  Crafts are so much better than candy!

Now for the upcoming Easter holiday.  It's always been my favorite.  I'm not ashamed to admit that my reasons have nothing to do with the actual reason for the holiday either.  I'm a bunny fanatic!  And it just so happens that this time of year there's a bunny on everything, everywhere.  Easter is one of the few times a year my family usually gets together (and somewhat gets along).  It's springtime, and the winter blues are fading away.  We're happier.  We get to dress up.  There's bunnies!  Can you see why I love it so much?

I have never used a kit to dye eggs.  In fact, last year was the first year I've ever dyed eggs.  We used some rubberbands to (attempt to) make some fun designs and food coloring.  Who needs fancy?  We don't!

When the Easter bunny stops by our house every year now, he brings very little candy or chocolate.  He usually brings a new toy, outfit, book, or something useful like new toothbrushes!  We'll have an Easter egg hunt, but any plastic eggs will have a few coins for the piggy bank or ONE piece of candy in them.  There are no jumbo eggs stuffed with a days worth of calories.  And you know what, the kids have just as much fun!

My kids aren't even that exposed to the holiday hype yet, and I'm already frustrated by it.  I feel like many moms are on a mission to outdo themselves and others each and every holiday.  When does the madness stop?  My hope for our house, it to never let it get started!