History, holidays, Kids, Uncategorized

Happy Birthday, Abe

27 Comments

Today is Abraham Lincoln’s birthday.  He was born on this date in 1809. (So was Charles Darwin. What a year!) We only started to celebrate  Presidents’ Day in 1971, when Washington ‘s and Lincoln’s birthdays were lumped together on the third Monday of February  after Congress passed a law in 1968 to encourage more three day weekends. To capitalize on  Presidents’ Day on Monday, I am taking today off and am thus giving myself a four day weekend.

I have determined that the only way I am going to make it through the next three and a half years of work is to take more time off.  I have a sad history of reluctance to taking vacation or sick leave. Right now I have accrued 750 hours of sick leave and 200 hours of vacation time. It shouldn’t be a problem to take the odd day off now and then.  I don’t quite understand my reluctance to stay home. Lutheran guilt?  I identify too closely with The Little Engine That Could?  Who knows? I only know that I am a more cheerful and productive person after a day off.

I love three day weekends, although it seems like work tends to pile up when Monday is a holiday.  Tuesday through Friday seem exhausting on those weeks. Husband wants Juneteenth declared a  holiday.  That would be great, I think.

What new Monday holidays would you like to see declared?  What are your memories of Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays when you were in elementary school?

27 thoughts on “Happy Birthday, Abe”

  2. My birthday is February 23 the day after Washington’s birthday and when I was a kid the year would alternate every other year we would have a three day weekend for either Lincoln or Washington. I always felt like years that we celebrated Washington’s Birthday we were celebrating my birthday then as you say in about fifth or sixth grade they want them together and it is neither Guy’s birthday it’s in the middle
    I think this is proof that all great people are born in February

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  3. I don’t I don’t know how the numbers work out exactly Renee but instead of taking a three day weekend why don’t you take a three week month and see how that would work from now until the end of your tenure

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. I think it works you have $1000 which is 25 weeks if you take that 25 weeks and put exes on the calendar over the next three years taking 12 weeks off a year you would run out of time accrued in two years but my guess would be that you have additional time coming over the next 3 1/2 years that will be added back into the equation and if you end up three weeks or five weeks off you can certainly figure out which months to work all four weeks instead of only three

      Liked by 2 people

      Reply

    1. Tacoma or Brookings? As in Tacoma Washington or Brookings South Dakota??
      I have been to Brookings – 35 years ago and don’t remember much. My sister and her husband lived in Volga while he went to school out there.
      But how do you compare those two places?

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. When I was 9, I went to DC with my mom, dad, and Grandma to visit my sister who had just moved out in the area. Then just a few years ago Kelly had a conference out there and we went along. The Lincoln Memorial was such a cool things to see in person.
    Here’s a link to Brent Olson talking about the memorial.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  6. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    At this point in my life, as I wind down my career, a Monday holiday is kind of irrelevant. I work T,W,TH at this point so I always have a 5 day week end. In 2 1/2 years I will opt for one of two choices: either cut back to 1 or2 days or work, or entirely retire. I know I want to cut back, but I am unsure how much. After I am done with my Master Gardener Certification, I want to spend more time volunteering in that activity. That will make Monday holidays even more irrelevant to me.

    When I was 16 years old I went on a 4H exchange trip to Lancaster Co Pennsylvania. At the end of the exchange week we travelled to Washington DC for a 3 day tour. I remember being so taken with the Lincoln Memorial. Indeed, I have always been fond of Lincoln as a historical character with his courage and his melancholia.

    When we broke up my mother’s house in 2009 I found a Lincoln treasure that you have probably seen in my house during book group. The Weekly Reader program sold books, and gave teachers premium prizes for sales of books. In my mother’s things I found a Weekly Reader Premium: A 100 year anniversary copy of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in his handwriting and his picture, issued by Weekly Reader. In 1963 she was teaching 6th grade at LeMars Central School. Apparently her students purchased many books that year. The parchment was rolled up tightly at the bottom of a box in perfect condition.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

  7. I remember it well… the happy faces of the children as they gathered around the flag-festooned Lincoln Log tree and sang rousing songs of the Civil War. Then, ten days later how we would add strings of cherries to the decorations and, as a climax to the celebration, would chop the tree down.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  8. I do recall the silhouettes Wes mentioned, but not much else, unil I was a teacher and had to prepare a February bulletin board… Probably put up a large flag made from construction paper, and no doubt there were cutouts of Washington and Lincoln. Wish I could remember more…

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  9. I love three day weekends. Before pandemic I always had a lot of vacation time to use up in the summer andI would take every Monday off and then of course state fair week was all vacation as well. Then I’d throw in the last days on some Tuesdays so that there were four day weekends. Not sure how vacation days are going to work now that I’m working halftime.

    Like

    Reply

  10. “Lincoln” , as the correct answer to a live, on-radio KFGO Fargo, ND, trivia contest, won for me a Trivial Pursuit game.
    Which historical figure has been the subject for the most books? At first I was going to answer “Jesus” but having a personal relationship with, Steve, the questioner, I knew he had a secular answer in front of him.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

      1. To explain. KFGO had a number of sport and political programs for which I contributed comments and parodies. Steve enjoyed the contributions and I was tasked to install flooring in his home down by Oak Grove High School in Fargo. I don’t think I have exposed anything personal about Steve. He is a good radio personality in the stream of our Dale.

        Liked by 2 people

        Reply

  11. I see in my research that the switch to Presidents’ Day in 1971 was part of the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, or UMHA. UMHA sounds like some sort of yoga practice to me.

    I remember Lincoln and Washington’s birthdays when I was a kid, but wasn’t paying a lot of attention when the switch was made. I showed up at school when I was expected to, but that was about the extent of my participation.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.