Category: Holiday Specials

Holiday Special: A Galentine’s Day Surprise

What is Galentine’s Day?

If you’re a fan of Parks and Recreation—more specifically, if you’re a fan of Amy Poehler’s character on the show, Leslie Knope—then I’m sure you already know all about Galentine’s Day. For those of you who have never watched Parks and Recreation—first off, why haven’t you watched Parks and Recreation?—Galentine’s Day is a day for celebrating the relationships you have with close friends and loved ones as opposed to Valentine’s Day during which you celebrate the intimate relationship you have with a lover, partner, fiancé, or spouse.

Some people also use Valentine’s Day as an occasion to awkwardly panic and ask out the first person that comes to mind rather than celebrate alone. The former—panicking and impulsively asking someone you’re not romantically interested in out on a date—seems a tad bit worse to me, but to each their own.

Galentine’s Day is fittingly celebrated on February 13th directly before Valentine’s Day. It’s not technically a holiday but, hey, Valentine’s Day isn’t really much of a holiday either. Plenty of people may take Valentine’s Day off to spend with their special someone, but you’re likely not getting paid for it unless you use up some of your precious holiday hours.

Anyhow, if this is your first Galentine’s Day, you might be wondering with whom you could possibly spend the day and what you might do on this most sacred of feminist holidays. Well, it’s not actually a feminist holiday—I just tend to think of it that way—and, despite the name, it’s not a gal-only holiday, either. Though, Leslie Knope does often use it as an opportunity to brunch it up with her lady friends.

Choosing Your Galentine(s)

After hearing a bit about Galentine’s Day, it’s possible that the individual with whom you’re interested in spending the special occasion has already crept into your mind: your childhood best friend, your closest friend from work, a sibling, a parent, or maybe—just as Leslie Knope actually does on Galentine’s Day in Parks and Recreation—you want to spend the day with a group that might include all of the above. 

And that’s the neat thing about Galentine’s Day. While Valentine’s Day is typically used to celebrate a single intimate relationship—or perhaps you’re in a polyamorous relationship, so no judgement here—Galentine’s Day is ideal for celebrating the array of important relationships and friendships that saturate your life. Hell, you can even invite your lover, partner, fiancé, or spouse because those individuals qualify as your friends and loved ones, too, right? 

At least I hope that’s the case for most individuals. 

Selecting an Activity for Galentine’s Day

There are oh so many ways you can spend the day with your Galentine(s): you might follow in Leslie Knope’s footsteps and treat some of your closest friends and loved ones to brunch whilst sharing important stories or experiences from your lives; you might head up to a ski resort with a few close buddies and hit the slopes for the day; you might chill out and relax with a good old fashioned movie and a bottle of wine (substitute: case of beer); or you might pack all of these activities into one epic day.

Anything’s possible on Galentine’s Day.

And if you’re like me and you’re in a situation where you don’t really have an option to spend Galentine’s Day with the important individuals in your life—I just moved to a new town and don’t know a single soul out here—then you can even just have a video call with a few of your close friends, talk on the phone, or create something special to share with your friends and loved ones the next time you see them. For instance, I’m writing Galentine’s Day cards for a few individuals in my life who have been extra supportive and inspiring this year in the yoga community.

To me, Galentine’s Day is definitely a holiday—let’s just call it a holiday, okay?—worth celebrating, especially if you’re one of those individuals who thinks Valentine’s Day is complete shit and kind of a money grab. There are no heart-shaped chocolates, wilting flowers, or awkward impulsive date-asking necessary with Galentine’s Day. 

Don’t get me wrong, though: I will be the first one to run to the store the day after Valentine’s Day and grab those heart-shaped chocolates for myself at half price. 

Holiday Special: A Mom-Made Christmas

Can Blogs Even Have “Holiday Specials”?

It’s the holiday season, so I obviously wanted to do something kind-of-sort-of holiday-ish to celebrate. I’m not really sure if blogs can even have “holiday specials” but if The Simpsons are doing it, then I want to do it, too.

Although I love the holiday season—Christmas is hands-down my favourite time of year—this one has been a struggle for me: Because of all the craziness going on in the world, this is the first Christmas that I’m not able to spend with my family. They only live about eight hours away, but the pandemic restrictions just keep coming and coming and I just wasn’t able to get home this year. 

It’s hard.

And I’m sure many individuals are in the same boat as me, or in a boat that presents even further challenges. Like I said, I’m only eight hours away from my family, yet I know there are individuals out there who live on completely opposite sides of the world than the rest of their family.

One positive thing that’s come out of this experience is that being away from my family really has solidified the fact—there’s no doubt about it in my mind—that the holidays are not about gifts whatsoever. I couldn’t care less about gifts right now. I’ve come to realize that the aspect of the holiday season that I enjoy so much is being with the people I love.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas is not just a cute children’s book. It’s real life, okay?

Nothing Beats Being a Kid on Christmas Morning

Since I can’t actually be with my family this holiday season, I’ve found myself reminiscing more than usual upon Christmas memories.

I can honestly say that I don’t think anything beats being a kid on Christmas morning, especially growing up in a household where Christmas was—and still is—a big thing: the anticipation building up to the moment when you can finally wake your parents up to open gifts (the rule was typically no earlier than seven o’clock in the morning at my house); running down the stairs to find stuffed stockings, gifts under the tree, and a plate full of half-eaten cookies devoured by Santa himself; sitting down to Christmas dinner after mom slaved away in the kitchen all day (she still does all the cooking); and then slipping into a food coma in good company after dessert.

I’m sure there are some of you who have very similar Christmas traditions as mine, and quite a lot who have their own traditions whether it’s going on a Christmas family vacation every year, going caroling from door-to-door with friends and family, or even volunteering at a shelter in your locality. 

Or maybe your tradition is to skip the holiday season altogether, which is totally okay, too. 

It’s a rough time for a lot of folks, and understandably so.

A Very Merry Mom-Made Christmas

You might be wondering why—on a blog that primarily discusses feminism—I’m telling you about my current holiday hardships and why I loved Christmas as a child. Well, it’s because this is a lot cheaper than therapy.

Only kidding (though if you want to psychoanalyze me based on my family’s Christmas rituals, you’re more than welcome to do so).

This might not be true for every household, but Christmas was very much a mom-made holiday in my house growing up. My mom did all the Christmas prep-work: she did the shopping for the whole family—gifts and food—and she wrapped all the gifts. If you could see how my mom wraps gifts, you might think they were shipped directly from Santa’s workshop.

I’m not quite sure if my mom was the one who put the gifts under the tree while we were sleeping. That job might have actually been my dad’s since it’s also Santa’s responsibility to eat the cookies and down the milk, and I know for a fact that my dad can eat an entire box of cookies in one sitting. He might have just been doing this while my mom carefully placed each gift beneath the tree and filled the stockings, though. 

Along with the Christmas prep-work, my mom did all the cooking and clean-up on Christmas day, too. She would spend all morning in the kitchen cooking and have us fed by mid-afternoon, then she’d spend some time cleaning afterward. It probably wouldn’t be until seven o’clock at night—a full twelve hours after we woke up to open gifts—that my mom would sit down and relax.

So, the point of this “holiday special” is to recognize all of the moms out there—including my own, of course—who make Christmas special for their family. Well, not just make Christmas special but make Christmas itself because—let’s face it—Christmas doesn’t come from a fat guy with a beard wearing a suit that probably needs a good wash by now.

For me, Christmas always came from my mom (with a little help from my dad every now and then).