Saturday, May 9, 2009

Mother's Day

I find it fascinating to learn how families celebrate Mother's Day. Some families have big get togethers centered around food and some buy fancy gifts while others give a single flower. Each family has its unique way of celebrating and acknowledging the love we have for our mothers.

When Steve and I started our journey together as parents, we decided to celebrate Mother's Day/Father's Day in a quiet way. Although we admire the others parenting style more than words can say, we have never really wanted to center that appreciation around gifts or on one day of the year. Instead, we have tried to show our children and each other that appreciation daily by treating each other with respect, complementing each other in front of the kids, helping each other, etc. So, generally our day is fairly quiet. When the kids were little, they started making gifts for me which I totally love and in the past we have either cooked out or bought take-out to enjoy at home and avoid the crowds. Nothing too elaborate. I like it. It suits us well.

So, how do you celebrate Mother's Day?

7 comments:

  1. Pretty much the same! I don't need anything fancy. Just a phone call from the older kids is good enough for me and Earl usually makes me a nice dinner. I love just being at home with the kids and Earl and enjoying the day together.

    Happy Mother's Day!
    Sherry

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  2. One year my hubby made me a homemade 2 layer cake & decorated the top it said Happy Rannys Day! I usually worked on Mothers Day. My kids will call & I will open handmade gifts from the grandchildren!

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  3. Dinner out just the 3 of us...we used to do the whole family thing but now I want it to be just my immediate family...usually Hope makes something homemade for me (card) and we just hang out together.

    Ahh, bliss...Happy Mother's Day.

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  4. Have a great Mother's Day Cathy! You are an inspiration to me :)

    I really can't believe that this is my third mother's day. Sophie's only two, but she was born in February, so my first mother's day was when she was just a few months old.

    We are going to take a picnic lunch and go biking on our favorite trail. I think my husband got me a little something but I don't know what it is yet, obviously.

    Sophie and I picked some flowers from our yard and put them in a jar for my mom. Money is really tight right now, which is why I am trying to do some freelance writing work. I didn't buy her anything, though I used to buy something small, or at least flowers. She really liked the flowers that we picked, even more so than if we had purchased some. And it was really fun getting outside in the fresh air to pick them with Sophie.

    I was telling my husband today that I was tired of all the ads that try to get people to buy all kinds of stuff for Mother's Day. It is all over the radio and on signs at businesses! It's so silly. I think people need to remember that there is more than one way to show you care... and most of the time - in my opinion - it is a lot better said without the use of your wallet.

    We sent my husband's mom a picture that Sophie painted as a gift for Mother's Day. She will especially appreciate it, I think, because she lives far away and doesn't get to see Sophie very much.

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  5. Cathy,
    You got me thinking about how we celebrate Mother's Day...as a child we had the tradition of wearing a rose when we went to church. The rose was red if your mother was alive and white if not. I remember my mother pinning the red rose that was loving grown from her rose garden on my Sunday dress and feeling thankful for her and thankful that my rose was red. Thanks for bringing back those memories. Best wishes for a Happy Mother's Day!!!

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  6. Sherry and Ranny, Enjoy your day with kids and grandkids!

    Melissa, I hope you find something yummy to eat at the restaurant!

    Heather, Your Mother's Day sounds perfect - a picnic and bike ride! Maybe we should do a bike ride too.
    I agree with all the ads. It is too much. I feel like it puts added stress on us to appreciate our mother's with expensive gifts rather than letting her know with words or simple gifts how much we love her. I love that you picked flowers for your mom. My mom would love that too. And the picture is perfect! You are a wonderful mom.

    RA Guy, Thanks for the good wishes.

    Debbie, I forgot about wearing the flowers. We were always running late to church and ended up having to buy them afterwards!!! I too remember thinking how lucky I was to have my mom with me.

    Happy Mother's Day to all of you and thank you for always sharing your beautiful stories of mothering.
    Cathy

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