Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

Today is Palm Sunday, part of the Christian celebration of Easter. On Palm Sunday, Jesus Christ was welcomed into Jerusalem, riding on the back of a humble donkey, cheered by thousands of people who covered the dusty road in palm branches and waved palm leaves in celebration. Today, Christians around the world will reenact this celebration by singing “Hosanna!” and waving palm branches.

To me, one of the most moving parts of any celebration, particularly any religious celebration, is a sense of unity. Even if you are alone, you are not alone in your celebration. Every celebration is, in some way, a celebration of community. Whether you are at home with your own family lighting Shabbat candles, or sitting in a steadily darkening Tenebrae service with a dozen other congregants, or in a temple full of hundreds of other worshippers raising your voices in a unison chant, there is an entire community celebrating with you. Somewhere in the world, there are other families lighting Shabbat candles, other congregations dimming the lights to celebrate Tenebrae, and other believers chanting the same ancient prayers. Even when you celebrate alone, you never celebrate alone.

Celebrate.

Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

For today’s “Celebrate” photo, I thought that I might be able to find a green sprout peeking out of my garden somewhere. I went outside and peered between the front bushes where the hostas often sprout early in the spring. I looked around the side of the house where ferns sometimes spring up. The area in front of the driveway where the bulbs are is still buried underneath several feet of crusty, sooty ice and snow. The few places where there was visible soil, there were no sprouts of green grass, no leaves getting ready to unfurl, no snowdrops about to burst into bloom. There was muddy dirt, and there was muddy snow. The only glimpse of green I could find was a manky old green sweatsock that had appeared in a melting snowbank a day or so ago, source unknown.

It was ugly against ugly, the filthy green against the filthy white. It certainly didn’t put me in the mind to celebrate. But as I glared at it in disgust, I realized that despite its ugliness, there was plenty of beauty around me. It was warm enough that I had come outside wearing a short-sleeved shirt and no coat. The rays of the sun had a golden quality that tinged the snowbanks with their glow and cast artistic shadows all over the yard. Dozens of different kinds of birds were singing happily in the trees. Overhead, a lazy jet made soft whooshing noises in the sky. Down the street, I could faintly hear the happy voices of boys playing street hockey. A neighbor walked by with his dog, softly whistling to her.

It’s not yet time to celebrate the re-awakening of the earth, the growth of the tiny green things, the rebirth of lawns and gardens. But it is time to celebrate the coming of spring: looking forward to those awakenings, to that growth, to the rebirth. There may not be baby birds, but there are eggs. There may not be sprouts, but there are seeds. There may not be spring, but there is anticipation. We can anticipate. We can hope. We can celebrate.

Celebrate.

Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

Particularly when our children are very young, there are plenty of exciting milestones for parents to celebrate. We celebrate the first smile, the first step, the first word. When they’re a little older, we celebrate when they learn to read, when they learn to ride a bike, when they learn to drive a car. When they become young adults, we celebrate when they graduate from high school and from college, when they get married, when they have children of their own. Each milestone is satisfying and exciting. But there is perhaps no developmental milestone quite so satisfying, quite so exciting, quite so freeing, quite so worthy of celebration, as potty training.

For the past five years, diapers, pull-ups, diaper pails, and the wiping of small bottoms have been an integral part of my life. I had to deal with other people’s bodily fluids multiple times a day, every day. I was at the biological beck and call, so to speak, of my children. But this week, I am able to officially declare that our family is a complete family of underpants-wearers!

I do not declare this fact lightly. I took on the task of intense potty-training my youngest child about a month ago, during her February break from preschool. She spent the entire week running around free of diapers, pull-ups, and underpants, happily “bare-bummed.” Every hour, I would call her to come sit on the potty. Each time, we would slowly count to ten as she did a “try.” Sometimes we’d reach ten without any action. But other times, we’d both open our eyes wide as we heard the unmistakable sound of peeing. And then her face would blossom into a wide grin of excitement, pride, and wonder, and she would giggle with delight. And so would I. We’d high-five each other, sing Daniel Tiger’s song reminding her to “flush and wash and be on your way,” and then I’d reward her with a piece of candy.

As the days wore on, we’d venture a bit further into the world of “big girl underpants.” Santa had put a few pairs of Disney princess underpants in her stocking (he was apparently as eager to get the pull-ups out of our house as I was), but we obviously needed a few more pairs, so we went to the store and she got to pick out some new underpants, opting for the “My Little Pony” collection. Then we were ready for our maiden underpants outing. We went to the grocery store, doing a “try” right before and checking several times during the trip to see if she needed to go again. We made it home with dry pants. She had an accident less than an hour later, but we made it through our outing accident-free. Celebrate!

After a few more days of practicing wearing underpants without pants around the house and then underpants with pants, we were ready to try a day at school. I warned her teachers and asked them to encourage her to go during the day. I packed extra pants just in case, but she made it through without an accident. Again, she had one after we got home, but it was a minor setback. Celebrate! Later that week, she went to her gymnastics class wearing underpants under her leotard. I was a bit nervous when a try at home and one at the gym right before class produced nothing, but she made it through class dry and clean – and then made it through the rest of the day at home with no accidents. Celebrate!

But the real trial came this past weekend when my husband and I attended a two-day conference spanning Friday evening and Saturday all day, and the kids had a sleepover with friends. Luckily, one of their kids is at about the same stage of potty-training as my daughter, so the parents were unfazed at the thought of possible accidents and were more than willing to risk an accident or two. I wasn’t sure how her training would be affected by a different, although familiar, house, and an unfamiliar potty. I needn’t have worried: my daughter was fascinated by the thought of using a different potty and not only did she not have any accidents, she hardly needed to be reminded to use the potty, but ran in herself whenever she needed to go. Celebrate!

And so, I am boldly declaring that my house is now a diaper-free zone (at least during the day). And I am ready to celebrate!

Celebrate!

Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

Today’s word is “celebrate.” I’ve already described both how I celebrate (by sabering champagne) and when I celebrate (solemn holidays as well as joyful ones), but today I choose a photo that describes what I celebrate. What I celebrate today, at least, is the coming of spring.

 After too many weeks of snow and cold, today was full of warmth, and sun, and blue skies. Spring has not yet come, but I celebrate the harbingers of it: the blue skies, the birdsong, the brightness, the puddles, even the dirty snowbanks. The sun finally has a bit of warmth to it. The skies which burn blue behind puffy white clouds. The animals peering out of their holes and dens and nests. The changing sights, and the changing sounds. The anticipation of new life. The expectation of green shoots, and baby birds and animals, and the smells of new life.

I’ve forgotten where I read it, but many years ago, I read something that commented how human beings have a desire for both familiarity and change, and how the repeating seasons satisfy that need. Just when we are tired of one season, it rolls over to the next – and yet, we always know what to expect, because the seasons follow each other in the same order they always have. We are tired of the winter, but we know the spring will soon arrive. Just when spring has ceased to be enough for us, it blossoms into the heat of summer, and when we tire of the heat, it cools into the colorful beauty of fall, which rolls its eventual deadness into the pure, clean, white of winter, which grows dirty and stale just in time to blossom once again into the new life of spring. Familiarity and change. It’s something to enjoy, to look forward to, and to celebrate.

Celebrate.

Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

The word “holiday” is derived from the words “holy day,” so it is no surprise that many of the holidays that we celebrate, whether religious or secular, originated as religious holidays. Many holidays are celebrated in both a religious and a secular way: Christmas, for some, is a celebration of the birth of Christ and redemption for mankind; for others it is a celebration of the arrival of Santa Claus with a sackful of toys. Easter is celebrated both as the resurrection of the Christian Savior and as the arrival of spring as heralded by the Easter Bunny with his baskets of jelly beans and chocolate eggs.

But as well as the joyful holidays, we have both religious and secular holidays which are more solemn and commemorative than they are joyful. Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Martin Luther King Day are secular holidays which are observed by solemnity and reflection rather than “celebration.” Nearly every major religion has holidays which are marked by mourning and repentance rather than by joy. Christians “celebrate” Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, when Jesus was betrayed and crucified. Jews “celebrate” Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a time of fasting, prayer, and confession. Muslims “celebrate” Ramadan, a month of fasting, charity, and self-sacrifice. Buddhists “celebrate” Ulambana, or Ancestor Day, when they make food offerings to relieve the suffering of departed ancestors. Hindus “celebrate” Mahashivaratri, a festival of Shiva spent in fasting and meditation.

One of the most mournful holiday seasons in the Christian calendar is the season of Lent, which comprises the 40 days (plus 6 Sundays) between Ash Wednesday and Easter, including Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. We celebrate, and yet we mourn. Celebration is not always joyous. It can be filled instead with self-reflection, self-sacrifice, good works, and charity toward others. This type of celebration encompasses both looking inward and examining oneself, but also reaching outward and helping one’s fellow man. This type of holiday is a time that we “observe,” rather than “celebrate.” We observe ourselves, and we observe those around us.

Even if you don’t celebrate Lent, take a moment to “celebrate” anyway. Observe. Honor. Look. Within and without. 

Celebrate.

Lent Photo a Day: Celebrate

Celebrations of any kind, in my house, are nearly guaranteed to include one thing: champagne. More specifically, sabering champagne. I was introduced to the art of champagne sabering by my husband, who was introduced to it by his brother, who was introduced to it during his time working for LVMH, the producers of Moet champagne in France. And where better to learn about the art of sabering than in the place where the art itself was born, from the people who created it?

For those of you unfamiliar with the technique, it involves using the dull side of a heavy blade, such as a sturdy chef’s knife or an actual saber, to strike the neck of a champagne bottle at the point where the two halves of the glass are fused together, which causes the neck of the bottle to snap off with a satisfying pop. It’s exciting to watch, and it’s even more exciting to do (particularly the first time you try it). It’s a brief but impressive ceremony which lends a sense of grandeur and pomp to any celebration.

And isn’t that what celebrating is all about? Adding some grandeur and pomp, repeating a special tradition, linking to both the past and the future, as we recognize that a milestone of some kind has been reached? Human beings celebrate to help us remember, to show the importance of certain accomplishments, to share with others what we have done, to remind ourselves that we are moving forward.

We celebrate events that simply happen to us, such as birthdays and the beginning of a new year. We celebrate events that happened in the past, such as anniversaries and holidays. We celebrate achievements and accomplishments, such as promotions and new jobs and graduations. We celebrate events that we caused to happen, such as buying a house or having a baby or getting married. We celebrate ourselves, we celebrate our families, we celebrate our friends, we celebrate those who came before us. Human beings have a deep need to celebrate and to commemorate.

And in my house, that means champagne. 

Celebrate!