Thank God it’s Monday, again. I always look forward to every Monday. They’re my 52 Chances a year, in which I get to share Memories of My Mom with you. Therefore, have a happy Monday.
For many, like me, the countdown to the holidays usually begins with the onset of the fall season (which some of us consider to be Labor Day). Fall brings us many feelings of nostalgia, as the days get shorter, the leaves change colors, the temperatures start to dip, and wafts of backyard bonfires are in the air.
This is when we usually start to realize the year is soon coming to an end. It’s still two more weeks until the Autumnal Equinox and the official start of fall but now that Labor Day (aka: “the unofficial end of summer”) has come and gone so too, it will seem, these last four months of 2025, along with all of the holidays and observances within them.
Brace yourselves – it’s only 54 days until Halloween, 81 days (11½ weeks) until Thanksgiving, 98 days until Hanukkah, 110 days until Christmas, and 117 days (less than 17 weeks) until 2026 (just to name some mile markers). These are followed by another string of holidays and celebrations throughout the new year.
NationalDayCalendar.com is my go to source for finding a variety of national daily, weekly, and monthly observances. I love to share those that especially relate to Mom (and our family) in some way because she loved to celebrate a lot of different things, too.
During the year, there are 11 official federal holidays in the U.S. [although, at least one (Juneteenth) has reportedly been or is being removed by our current president]. Starting with New Year’s Day and ending with Christmas Day, they are as follows:
- New Year’s Day
- MLK Jr.’s Birthday
- Washington’s Birthday (aka: President’s Day)
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Columbus (Indigenous Peoples’) Day
- Veterans Day
- Thanksgiving Day
- Christmas Day
Besides celebrating theses federal holidays, there‘s also many cultural (non-calendar) “holiday” observances, in which Americans like to indulge, such as the NFL’s Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, Cinco de Mayo, Thanksgiving Eve, Black Friday, Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve; and, as I said (above), a variety of national daily, weekly, and monthly observances.
There’s a lot of things to do and enjoy in autumn, before Halloween even gets here. Football games are in full swing, now, and around here, weekend bonfire parties are quite popular. Additionally, the apple cider mills are currently at full blast.
I’ve always loved going to apple tree farms and cider mills in the fall, ever since I was young. I also loved taking my kids and grandson, when they were all young, too. Those day trips are among our family’s most favorite nostalgic memories.
September is also popular for Renaissance Festivals and Octoberfests’ outdoor celebrations – yes, Octoberfest is in September (for more favorable weather) and it’s quite popular, as Michigan has so many micro-breweries. October is a popular month for the exquisite “color tours” around Michigan’s lakeshore (and throughout its forests and farmlands).
Many trees will soon be changing colors in a gorgeous wave of reds, oranges, and yellows; emphasized by the deep greens of the pine trees sprinkled throughout. It starts in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and flows southward, into “The Mitten”, towards the Ohio-Indiana border. I’ve noticed the shoreline trees seem to change later than those inland, too.
“Food is the essence of hospitality. It’s given away as gifts. Food is associated with celebrations and holidays. Food has emotional connotations.” – Gloria Pitzer, Gloria Pitzer’s National Home News (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; Vol. 5, No. 9; September 1978, p. 7)
Whatever the reason is to celebrate, it’s usually done so with food. We can make every day a celebration for something. Almost everything in life is (or should be) commemorated with food and/or drinks, in some manner or form.
In fact, these days, the marketing industry is constantly promoting a variety of foods, drinks, and decor for different seasons, sports, holidays, and any other reason for a gathering.
Americans love to host/go to parties or celebrations for other special-day-events like family and class reunions, baby and bridal showers, births and birthdays, weddings and anniversaries, confirmations, baptisms, and bar mitzvahs; as well as for getting a job, buying a house, and retiring.
The top 10 most celebrated Public Holidays in the United States, according to Wikipedia, are Christmas (at #1), followed by Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Easter Sunday, Independence Day, Halloween, Father’s Day, Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and New Year’s Eve/Day (tied at #10).
There are many noteworthy, cultural “holidays” that embrace food (and/or drinks) in some way; including the NFL’s Super Bowl Sunday, Spring Break Week, Major League Baseball’s opening day, Memorial Day Weekend (as the unofficial start of summer) and Labor Day Weekend (as the unofficial start of fall).
There are also special milestone events that we usually celebrate with food, family, and friends like engagements, weddings and anniversaries, along with pregnancies and birthdays, which are most common. Additional fetes include house-warmings, graduations, family and class reunions, job promotions and retirements.
We celebrate almost every special day or event with some kind of food (and/or drink) – except for a few religious holidays, as they focus on “fasting”. New Year’s Day through New Year’s Eve, all the big holidays and special events in our lives are, in some fashion, marketed in the food industry as much as they are commemorated in the greeting card industry.
Sharing food is how we celebrate, make friends, nurture relationships, and mend conflicts. I remember when I was young, crying to Mom that I didn’t have any friends. Mom firmly believed that the way to the heart is through the stomach. The next day, she sent me to school with a bag full of cookies to share with the other kids. It worked! Speaking of school…
MORE FROM MOM’s MEMORIES…
As seen in…
Gloria Pitzer’s National Home News (National Home News, St. Clair, MI; Vol. 5, No. 9; September 1978, p. 11)
AT HOME – A Back-To-School Barometer For Veteran Mom’s
SOME MOTHERS ARE GIFTED at retaining certain pieces of information… they can tell you in the second week of June the exact date, time, and hour of the day in September when school opens again.
Others rely on newspaper headlines, the calendar, their neighbors – but the best of all barometer for deciding when it’s time for the kids to go back to school is a series of events in the lives of mothers who know that the family that plays together gets on each other’s nerves… After a while!
You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when you’re 13-year-old passes up a phone call from a boy to voluntarily wash the dishes because she’s bored.
You know it’s time for the kids to get back to school, when the sound of a child licking a postage stamp gives his mother in the next room a tension headache.
When the city declares your backyard a dangerous intersection because of excessive mini-bike traffic through your flowerbeds, you know it’s time for the kids to go back to school.
When you’re 16-year-old prefers to take out the garbage to lifting weights because he doesn’t have anything else to do, the vacation has out-lived its original purpose.
You know it’s time for the kids to go back to school when your own mother calls to apologize for not having had the children at her house for a few days but mentions something about Christmas vacation being just around the corner.
You know it’s time when the words to a record album your teenager has been playing all summer begin to make sense to you.
It’s time for the kids to go back to school when you read in the paper that the teachers in your area still haven’t settled their contract with the school board.
You know it’s time when even the neighborhood kids start to call you ‘Mother’ and you discover you like it. It’s time when you find six of them even walking AROUND your newly planted bushes rather than THROUGH them.
Most mothers can tell when it’s time for the kids to go back to school when they see Christmas merchandise being marked down on the counters of their favorite store and all the Halloween favors have already been sold, and it isn’t even Labor Day yet!
Mothers can tell when it’s time by the number of Kool-Aid stains on the living room rug that begin to take on the interesting arrangement of a free-form art exhibit.
You know it’s time for the schools to open when the 15-year-old, who wouldn’t wear shoes all summer, suddenly takes an advance on his allowance to get himself six pairs of socks and a haircut without being told to.
It’s time when a mother has made so much lemonade and spread so much mustard on sandwiches, that she can’t see the color yellow without feeling sexually attracted to a school bus!
It’s time for the kids to return to their little red schoolhouse and their little reading books when they start leaving the house WITHOUT slamming the screen door!
You know the time is right if you have a high school senior, who for three years enjoyed every chance he had to get OUT of school but develops a sudden nervous rash when he hears school might not open if the teachers strike. In fact, show me a mother right now who isn’t glad to see the kids go back to school and I’ll show you a TEACHER!
I’ve been writing these blog posts for almost seven years. I wrote one more than five years ago about celebrations and food, called Any Reason To Celebrate With Food (Feb. 24, 2020).
That’s when I came up with the slogan, “Any reason to celebrate, is a reason to celebrate with food!” I firmly believe (as did Mom) that nothing celebrates an occasion or gathers people together more than food.
LAST THOUGHTS…
Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my memories of my mom, her memories, and other related things. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to email me at therecipedetective@outlook.com. You can also find me on Facebook: @TheRecipeDetective.
IN CLOSING…
In honor of Wednesday, being National Swap Ideas Day, and this week, being National Waffle Week (for 2025), PLUS it’s Better Breakfast Month, here are TWO of Mom’s secret recipes for “Belgium Waffles”, with homemade “Cream Soda”; as seen in her self-published cookbook, The Copycat Cookbook (Secret RecipesTM, St. Clair, MI; April 1988, p. 105). As always, I’m asking only for proper credit if you care to re-share them.
P.S. Food-for-thought until next Monday…
September observes… National Americana Month, National Blueberry Popsicle Month, National Chicken Month, National Honey Month, National Italian Cheese Month, National Mushroom Month, National Potato Month, National Rice Month, National Sewing Month, Self-Improvement Month, Whole Grains Month, and more.
Today is also… National Ampersand Day.
Tomorrow is… National Wiener Schnitzel Day. Plus, as the second Tuesday in September (for 2025), it’s also… National Ants on a Log Day.
Wednesday, September 10th, is… National TV Dinner Day.
September 11th is… National Hot Cross Bun Day and Patriot Day and National Day of Service and Remembrance. Plus, as the second Thursday in September (for 2025), it’s also… National School Picture Day.
Friday, September 12th, is… National Chocolate Milkshake Day and National Day of Encouragement.
Saturday, September 13th, is… National Kids Take Over The Kitchen Day and National Peanut Day.
Sunday, September 14th, is… National Cream Filled Donut Day, National Eat a Hoagie Day, National Live Creative Day , and National Virginia Day. Plus, as the start of the second full week in September (for 2025), it’s also the start of… National Biscuit and Gravy Week.
Have a great week!
…36 down and 16 to go!
