Celebrate with your Mother!

This past week was abyssmal. I wasn’t unusually busy as my weeks go, but on Tuesday I came home from the Gift Shop not feeling totally well and with some back pain. After relaxing for a while in my new recliner with a couple of ibuprofen for the discomfort, I was home free, I thought. Wednesday and Thursday I felt horrible and a nighttime of severe chills on Wednesday added to my misery. Yikes, I haven’t felt that bad in many years. (Yep, there’s a bug going around, and he got me good, shook me around like a rag doll and threw down and stomped on me!). My sweet sister brought me soup, Imodium and Gator Ade! She knew the cure and it helped. All day Friday and Saturday, my energy level was nil, (thank you family for the new recliner, it works well), but I had no more symptoms, and by Saturday evening, I felt well enough to go to church with her in town. Sunday my energy level was up a bit (not normal, believe me), but up and by Monday morning, I feel nearly normal!
Now, let’s talk about this coming weekend! Sunday, May 14, is Mother’s Day, and the time to specially honor our Mothers on their very own day.
Do you know the origins of this special day honoring our Mothers?
It was first observed in Grafton, West Virginia and in the churches of Philadelphia on May 10, 1908, on a suggestion by Miss Anna Jarvis to honor her mother, a Sunday school teacher. Because of her Mother’s fondness of flowers, especially carnations, Miss Jarvis gave a carnation to each person present in her honor.
According to an article that I read sometime during this past week, even though Anna Jarvis never married, she continually worked toward more attention being paid to Mother’s during her entire lifetime.
Mother’s Day International Association was incorporated in December 1912 to encourage a greater observation of the day.
In 1913, by a unanimous vote, The House of Representatives passed a resolution commending the observance of Mother’s Day and calling upon the president, his Cabinet, the Senators and Federal Government Employees to wear a white carnation on the second Sunday of the month to observe Mother’s Day.
President Woodrow Wilson, in 1914, issued a proclamation designating the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day and directed that the American Flag be displayed on all public buildings on that day.
A holiday called “Mothering Sunday,” an old English custom, antedated the present observance by many years. The name was derived from the custom of the faithful attending the mother church in which they had been baptized on Mid-Lent Sunday. At this time they offered gifts at the altar to the church, and also to their mothers, as tokens of love and gratitude.
Some of the earliest Mother’s Day celebrations on record can be traced back to ancient Greece. The celebrations were held in honor of Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. The Roman equivalent was a religious celebration known as Hilaria that lasted from March 15 to 18.
The observance of Mother’s Day has spread to many other countries, including England, Sweden, Denmark, India and Mexico.
In parts of Yugoslavia, Mother’s Day is called “Materice” by the Serbian people and is observed two weeks before Christmas.
It has become the custom to wear white flowers if your mother is deceased, and red flowers if she is still living. The flower most usually associated with Mother’s Day then and now has been the carnation.
Do you remember the verse that you may have learned, or that was printed on a mimeographed sheet, with a carnation for you to color for your mother, when you were in grade school? It was called simply “Mother”. I have no idea as to the source, because the first time I saw it and colored it, I was in third grade! It has been around for a very long time and is still as beautiful now as it was then.
MOTHER
M – is for the million things she gave me.
O – is only that she is growing old.
T – is for the tears she shed to save me.
H – is for her heart of purest gold.
E – is for her eyes with love light shining.
R – is right, and right she’ll always be.
Put them all together and they spell “Mother”, a word that means the world to me.
In case you’re celebrating, having a big meal and all the trimmings, here’s a truly delicious dessert for you to try. We had this numerous times when the family was all together in Devine and it was strawberry season. The original recipe was from my Mother and she served it to her bunco ladies as well as her family!
Strawberry Pie
1 baked pie shell, or a vanilla ready-to-use crust
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water
6 teaspoons cornstarch
7 teaspoons strawberry gelatin (or 2 teaspoons sugar-free gelatin)
1 pound, cleaned, hulled, fresh strawberries (divided usage)
Whipped topping
Bake pie shell according to directions on package and set aside to cool. Mix together, sugar, water and cornstarch in pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly until thick and clear. Add gelatin, stir well until gelatin is thoroughly dissolves and set aside to cool.
Cut strawberries into quarters or slice (save 8 of the nicest strawberries and leave whole for garnish) and place sliced berries into the prepared pie shell. Pour cooled cooked mixture over berries and chill thoroughly. Serve slices with whipped topping; garnish each serving with a whole cleaned berry with the stem on. Makes 6 to 8 servings.
The following is delicious also, and my granddaughter sent it to me several years ago.
Strawberry Jell-O Cake
1 box strawberry flavored gelatin
1 box white cake mix + 2 Tbs. flour
4 eggs
½ water
1 package frozen strawberries (minus ¼ cup for frosting)
Mix gelatin, cake mix and flour; add oil, water and eggs; mix well, add strawberries and stir to mix in; pour into 9×13 pan and bake as per package instructions. Cool completely before frosting.
Frost with:
1 box powdered sugar (confectioners’ sugar)
¼ cup butter
¼ cup strawberries
Mix all together until of spreading consistency and spread on cooled cake.