February 1 arrives the next morning. Quiet as a mouse. A mouse that rapidly morphs into a giant groundhog waving a calendar in your face and you realize that Valentine's Day is just the tip of the Titanic iceberg, and you, Captain Edward John Smith, are steaming straight for it!
We celebrate three different fruits this month. Throw in an entire week devoted to an all-American dessert, one day celebrating a particular candy, and you and your stomach thank god February lasts but 28 days.
With so few days available for all the festivities packed into February, I suggest bundling some festivals together.
Multitask!
We've got Jell-O Week from the 9th through the 15th. That's a long time to celebrate one dessert. But because February is also Grapefruit Month, Avocado Month, and Banana Month, multitaskers might want to make up a big bowl of cherry-flavored Jell-O packed with bananas, avocado bits, and grapefruit slices!
And since National Gumdrop Day pops up on the 15th, what better way to decorate your festive Jell-O mould than with a healthy sprinkling of colorful gumdrops on top?
You've packed four holidays into one, you clever thing.
Just don't take your Jell-O to the library (February is Library Lovers Month) and strum a little tune on your ukulele (World Play Your Ukulele Day is on the second). Eat in a library? Play music? Librarians worldwide frown on that sort of thing. But I hear groundhogs love it!
P.S. The picture? Well, I don't have any photos of gumdrops. And I didn't want to buy any because I'd just eat them. So here's a rudimentary drawing of gumdrops I did in Photoshop. Not too professional, but at least they're colorful!
©Carol Leigh
