St. Patrick’s Day is in a few weeks on March 17th. This has brought memories to mind of the many celebrations in the Smith home. For instance, on St. Patrick’s Day my wife put green dye—don’t tell Robert Kennedy, Jr.—in our eggs, orange juice, etc. for breakfast. She usually had ham as an additional protein dish with decorations including Dr. Suess’ book Green Eggs and Ham and green streamers hanged about the room. Our children were instructed to wear something green to the table. After breakfast we watched a comically bizarre short movie about St. Patrick running all the snakes out of Ireland. Even though we are not Catholic, it was one of many special days that our children always anticipated each year.
The same could be said for Valentine’s Day, Easter, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas season, as well as birthdays and a few other anomalous events. Every Sunday morning, my wife made her special rolls for breakfast as a way to celebrate a Sabbath rest. Even though it was a very busy day in a pastor’s home, Sunday was always my children’s favorite day of the week. Sure, these little celebrations took more time and effort, but the delight in our children’s faces always made the sacrifice worth it.
So many people live life in an abyss of grey. One day bleeds into another uneventful day. While life is necessarily made up of ordinary days, we can unintentionally add to the monotony simply because we don’t want to make the extra efforts to do things differently on occasion. When we do not spend time, energy and resources to make certain days special, then nothing is special anymore. Some would understandably argue that life is busy so they don’t have time, but it could also be argued that we are allowing life to run us rather than making disciplined choices to corral the craziness of life. There have been difficult seasons in our family life that were intentionally made and that we knew were going to be rough for a few months, but they were seasons not lifestyles.
Specialness is based on context, doing something a little bit different from the daily routine. Our Sundays were distinct because our children dressed up. They did not slide out of bed ten minutes before church and slide into the pew wearing their p.j.’s. but were well-groomed to attest to the uniqueness of the day. Sunday morning began on Saturday night be laying out clothes, preparing food, and getting to bed at a decent time to get up at a decent time, so there would be less scrambling, stress, and frustration in the morning.
The same could be said for other events as my wife would think of things to do in advance. She planned her meals, decorations, and activities, so she would have her groceries and little knick-knacks ready to avoid last-second rush and stress. No, we did not do these sort of things every week—lest they would cease to be special—but we did them enough to cause our children excitement to come to the table.
We want to make our homes a place where our children love to be. In all honesty, it doesn’t take that much effort, only a little more planning. Dads can help too by taking the responsibility to bring a thought, life lesson, or devotional to the event. A little change is good as a break. Teddy Roosevelt famously said:
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure… than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” – Theodore Roosevelt
While he was giving comment to manliness and battles, there is no reason it cannot be applied to our households as well. They can be colored with delight, laughter, and good memories. When we put in the effort to make things special, our children will look back at their upbringing with fondness and appreciation and will attempt to make things special for their children.
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