Mardi Gras Day!

Kids in Texas get Spring Break. Kids in Louisiana get Mardi Gras break. It's understood. The grown-up are off work, kids are out of school, and there's a spirit in the air... of friends, good food and celebration.

It was hard to adjust when we first moved to Texas from Thibodaux... "Why isn't anyone excited? How come no one is wearing purple, green and gold? Why do we have to go to school? It's Mardi Gras day.. grumble grumble"

By this time, we'd been eating king cake for breakfast for the past 2 weeks. The parades were so much fun, it was almost like Halloween in the spring; We wore costumes and painted our faces. People would park their cars along the parade route hours before the parade started and just camp out, eat fried chicken, walked up and down the street "visiting" with friends and neighbors. Our parents didn't worry about our safety, who we were with, where we were.. of course we were safe...we're surrounded by hundreds of our closest pals. When we were small, Dad would hoist us up on his shoulders, our arms flailing in the air so we'd have a better chance of catching beads and toys. It was just fun, and it was uniquely ours.

And this time of year, I miss it.

For more info on the history of Mardi Gras, click here.