All of February: Letter-Writing Month. The challenge is to “mail at least one item through the post every day it runs. Write a postcard, a letter, send a picture, or a cutting from a newspaper, or a fabric swatch.” I want to do this with my girls. Such an encouragement to the people who receive a REAL letter or card in the mail.
February 2: Candlemas. We’re not Catholic, but it would be fun to light some candles and talk about how Jesus is the Light of the World. Like Mother, Like Daughter on Candlemas.
February 2: Groundhog Day. Check the weather. Watch the movie.
February 7: Charles Dickens’ Birthday. I will start reading Bleak House.
February 12: Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.
February 12: Shrove Tuesday. Pancakes or maybe beignets!
February 13: Betsy-Bee’s Birthday. My next-to-the-youngest baby will be 14 years old. How will we celebrate? Not sure. I know she wants to go to Fuddrucker’s.
February 13: Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. For the past several years I have taken a blogging break during Lent. This year I’m thinking about “giving up” something different for Lent: sedentariness and prayerlessness. I think that for the forty days of Lent I will go for a daily walk and spend my walking time in prayer. How’s that for a lenten discipline? I’ll let you know how it goes. Observing Lent.
February 14: International Book Giving Day It’s also the day for announcing the winners of the Cybils Awards.
February 14: St. Valentine’s Day. Well, here are 100 suggestions for celebrating Valentine’s Day. I think we’ll listen to some love songs, watch a movie, make a few valentines for friends and strangers who need a little love.
I’m also planning to fill a large jar with Valentine candy, probably M and M’s, at the beginning of the month. Everyone in the family can have two guesses as to how many candies are in the jar. On Valentine’s Day we’ll open it and count. The one who guesses closest wins a prize–not the candy. We’ll share that!
February 18: President’s Day. Work on my Presidential Reading Project. Start reading either my Andrew Jackson book or my Harry Truman book. Hang out our U.S. flag for the day. President’s Day for Kids.
February 22: George Washington’s Birthday. We will read this poem, and maybe I’ll make something with cherries in it.
February 23: Purim begins at sundown. Purim takes place on the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, the twelfth month of the Jewish calendar. I would like to have a family Purim party and read the book of Esther together.
February 27: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s birthday. Read some Longfellow: maybe The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere or The Village Blacksmith or The Children’s Hour or The Wreck of the Hesperus or other poems by Longfellow. Post lines from Longfellow on Twitter and Facebook.
Feb. 7 is also Laura Ingalls Wilder’s birthday, and I host a LIW reading challenge during the month of February. I only recently learned that that’s Dickens’ birthday as well. I’d love to read something of his that month, too, as he is one of my favorites, but all his stuff is fairly long. 🙂
I enjoy these lists of things to celebrate in the coming month.
You have got me all excited about February! January has been a very low month in many ways, and I was already looking forward to Feb 2 because I love the way Simeon and Anna were blessed to meet Christ in the Temple – it’s one of my favorite feasts, which we Orthodox celebrate as The Meeting of the Lord or The Presentation of Christ.
But I’ve also been wanting to write more letters, and I didn’t know this was the special month for starting up that improved habit! And the birthday of Longfellow – why, I could memorize a poem by the 27th, surely!
Many of the other dates and remembrances you mention are worthwhile, too, but I must admit Valentine’s Day is near the top!
Thanks, Sherry!
I love the idea of dedicating a month to writing letters and other things that can be sent through the “real” post!
Are you going to blog reading Bleak House? That’s one of my goals, to get read. I think I’ve started it several times and petered out.