Ah, March 18th.  It’s a Monday; a rainy one, at that.  Typical Monday stuff is happening: housework, laundry, grocery shopping.  And, of course, reading all the Grinchy outcry against the fun some of us choose to have for St Patrick’s Day.

I’ll admit it: I’m guilty of making St Patty’s Day more fun for the kids than I probably should.  My kids make leprechaun traps (although this year, my daughter made a house because she felt he would not come if he knew he would be trapped…smart girl!) and were thrilled to find that “our” leprechaun, Freckles O’Leary, had indeed visited and brought a handful of chocolate coins and some other small trinkets.

We had all the fun that $2.40 could buy at the party store, and the kids loved it.  I definitely did not put on as big a production as some other parents do, but I’m hopeful that my kids will forever have fond memories of this “holiday”…and it cost me less than my beloved espresso at Starbucks.

So get over it, cranky moms.

I see all the blogs and Facebook posts complaining about parents like me, who like to acknowledge these quirky little holidays.  Why all the anger?  Nobody is shunning you for choosing not to participate.  I’m certainly not.  I’m also not wagging my finger at you when you post photos of your lavish Disney vacations (we haven’t been on a vacation in a couple years) or bitching when my six year old asks me for an iPod Touch because so many of her first grade friends have them.  Sorry, I don’t think she’s ready for the responsibility of having her own pricey electronics.  That’s what I believe is right for my kids, but what you do for your kids is your business.  Boom.  Easy enough, right?

My youngest son will get angry with me when we’re grocery shopping because I won’t let him ride or stand in the back of the cart.  I simply tell him that it’s against the rules, as that’s easier than trying to describe all the gross bacteria that is probably living in the basket of the cart, since that is where most people place the groceries they want to buy (like raw meat…ew).  We inevitably stumble across another mom shopping with her kids, and usually one of them is jumping up and down in the back of the cart.  “HEY!!”, he’ll shriek, “Why does HE get to sit in the back?!?”.  I calmly explain that they don’t have to follow our rules, just like we don’t have to follow their rules.

It’s the same for all of this holiday nonsense (listen, just because I choose to participate does not mean that I don’t think it’s nonsense…).  If you’re not into it, cool.  But if other families are into it, that’s cool too.  Don’t make the moms that are trying a different approach than you feel bad about what they are doing; just move on.

It doesn’t come down to publicly pleading for the overachieving, Pinterest-obsessed, self-proclaimed Wonder Moms to knock it off with the faux holidays and stop blowing the real holidays out of proportion.  Nobody has ever published a manual that explains that this is how you do one thing or another (or if they did, I didn’t get a copy!).  You do what you’re comfortable with, what makes sense to you, and what works for your family.  Believe me, as long as there is money to be made off of these extravagant holiday events, they will keep getting bigger and bigger (notice how many non-candy things are being sold now that fit inside a plastic Easter egg!).  No one is forcing you to participate, though.

Let’s leave the cranky fits for the holiday dinner table, shall we?  Oh, and let me be the first to wish you a happy Forgive Mom & Dad Day (3/18), and don’t forget that tomorrow (3/19) is National Quilting Day.