It’s the least relevant day…of the year.


It’s Groundhog Day, or, as I like to call it, the least relevant day of the year if you live where I do. I don’t care what’s happening in the rest of the world – six more weeks of winter would be an early spring; we’ve been having unseasonably mild weather which makes me a bit superstitious that it is going to be ALL WINTRY BLASTS ALL THE TIME come April and May.

But Groundhog Day – you will be happy to know – is not just a weird, made-up holiday like you may have assumed. It actually has roots in pagan European weather lore! Good times. Despite my previous feelings that Groundhog Day is the stupidest day of the year, which was largely based on weather bitterness which I am trying to overcome by finding within me an invincible summer, I now say hooray for the groundhog! The lowly groundhog, elevated to the status of having its very own day. It’s not everyday we celebrate a rodent. We should all be happy for the groundhog.

Today is also the day Sid Vicious died, which seems a bit of a “who-gives-a-shit” piece of information, but since he overdosed on heroin to be with his beloved crazy-ass Nancy, maybe he was somehow confusing Groundhog Day with Valentine’s Day. I mean, you do that much smack in your lifetime you probably have a hard time keeping up with the calendar, you know?

Many, many of our special days have roots in pagan rituals, but not – as you likely already know – St. Valentine’s Day. St. Valentine was a Christian martyr, and I’m a little fuzzy on the details as to how his day became synonymous with love and chocolates and those cheap incarcerated teddy bears that proclaim they are prisoners of love. In any event, I am very much looking forward to Valentine’s Day this year because my kids are at the hilarious stage when talking about anything romance related has them shrieking with disgust.  It’s quite amusing.  Their teacher started a heart-themed calendar for the month of February and it’s the Worst! Calendar! Ever!  The boys have taken to bringing home Geronimo Stilton books from the library, and we have been reading them at bedtime.  There was a chapter where a female mouse VERY CREEPILY goes after Geronimo in a romantic way, and the boys were actually screaming with horror.  It was kind of horrible, come to think of it.  If there had been a gender reversal – a male character going after a female one in the same manner – there would have certainly been an uproar about it.

But alas!  This is the way of the world, it seems.  Being a mother of boys makes one acutely aware of gender bias.  Take, for example, what used to be Boy Scouts but is now just Scouts, versus Girl Guides.  It’s okay for girls to be with only girls, but not okay for boys to be with only boys, is the take-away message I am receiving.

We’ve all heard about the uproar over the new Lego line that is aimed at girls.  Personally, I looked at that line and immediately coveted all the sets for myself.  They are CUTE.  I also covet one of those Maplelea dolls – I really like Taryn.  But anyway, I think we’re all aware of the uproar about Lego, how Lego is supposed to be gender neutral, etc., etc.  I do not agree.  I think that Lego is generally marketed to boys.  Girls do play with Lego, of course, just as boys play with dolls, but predominantly those items are gender-marketed.  Is this a bad thing?  I don’t know.  We don’t live in a gender neutral world, people.  I am not saying this is right or wrong, I am saying that this is reality.

But I digress.  I am simply amused that my boys have reached the stage where little hearts cause them to make retching noises, whereas I have reached the stage where Valentine’s Day evokes feelings of the craving variety, as in chocolate and wine.  Come to think of it, perhaps chocolate and wine should be the new way to celebrate Groundhog Day!  Yes!  Let’s celebrate the groundhog with a nice glass of Shiraz and a pile of frozen York patties, shall we?

Comments

  1. Frozen york patties WITH Shiraz? Hmmmm.

    I will take the wine, though.

    Miss you on Twitter. Why you “breakin’?”

  2. This is a good post!

    Valentine’s today are MUCH better than when I was a kid. None of the cards I bought for the boys have anything that makes them squirmy or is too sentimental. Thank heavens.

    I love gender based marketing myself. I don’t want to wander around a unisex clothing department at Walmart trying to find the t-shirts that are cut to accommodate my rack or the socks that aren’t ten times too large. My deodorant is the one in the purple package — this helps my husband from going to work smelling citrusy or flowery. I like that the aisle with the tampons is NOT right next to the men’s shaving accoutrements. Why do we expect the toy aisle to be any different?

    However, I find the Maplelea dolls scary.

  3. I don’t think I’ve ever had frozen york patties but I will change that this weekend! I’ve had lots of Shiraz….. so it can be a something old, something new weekend in anticipation of the day AFTER Valentines day when all the chocolate goes on sale.

  4. I want to kill that rodent.Wait was that too weird?I also don’t like Valentine’s Day. I mean, I get sex…Wait was that also weird?I’ll shut up now.

  5. Hee hee – Nan said ‘accommodate my rack.’ Also, I apparently can’t spell accommodate without a lot of help from spell check. I don’t like the big weird dolls either, if those are the Maplelea dolls – Matt’s Dad sent Eve one and I hate going in the room when it’s just me and her, I feel like the little bitch is judging me. Do you sing “I’m sexy and I know it” to them? Angus LOVES it when I do that.

  6. I am in awe of your ability to work Groundhog Day, Sid & Nancy, Lego, Geronimo Stilton and York patties all into a single post and have it all tie together.

    Also, one time I bought an outfit for a Maplelea doll for my niece for Christmas (it was on her wishlist!) and now I get their flyers sent to me a couple of times a year. Every time it arrives, I get this little shudder of revulsion because the dolls are just so freaky looking. And then I hide the flyer as fast as I can, because if I hate them, my daughter is sure to desperately want one.

  7. I love the Barbie/doll isle at toy stores. My boys would act like they might catch something in or near those isles AND don’t even think that they would walk down them! But times do change. My 14 year old now has a legit girlfriend…they are ‘going out’. It may be the end of me. I am working on a blog post all about it. I will be touching on what one might do when they are stuck in traffic and their son starts making out with his girlfriend in the back seat!

    Go Pats!!!!!!!!!!

  8. It seems I have missed most of the drama with legos for girls. I thought legos were for both genders. Apparently I’m mistaken.

  9. A very nice informational blog.Keep on making such important blog post.Your work is really being appreciated by some one.

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