How Do You Celebrate Mother's Day?

"Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs... since the payment is pure love."  - Mildred B. Vermont

Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend! A holiday meant to recognize and celebrate motherhood, it is generally showered with gifts and cards for mom, as well as Sunday brunch with the family in honor of mom.

Have you ever wondered how our annual celebration of Mom’s began?

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood have been going on throughout the world, tracing back to ancient festivals thousands of years ago. However, our modern United States celebration of Mother’s Day has only took root within the past few centuries.

The “Mother’s Day Proclamation” was written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870, as a reaction to the Civil War and the responsibility mother’s had to rally for peace. She proposed converting July 4^th into Mother’s Day, however it was later decided that June 2^nd would be the designated day of celebration for mother’s throughout the country. Over time, the holiday died out, but Howe planted the seed that would eventually turn into our annual Mother’s Day.

Anna M. Jarvis campaigned to have an official Mother’s Day holiday, in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. On May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day celebration took place at Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a bill recognizing Mother’s Day as a national holiday, taking place the second Sunday of May each year.

How do you celebrate Mother’s Day? What kinds of traditions do you have in honor of Mother’s Day? Leave a comment - we would love to hear from you!

(Information from Wikipedia, 123holiday.net, and Mothers Day Central)