Today's Holidays
09/01/12 05:30
There are holidays that I observe and others that I let slide. If you check around, you can find some sort of holiday for every day of the year – most are pretty obscure. For example, did you know that the second Monday of the year is National Clean Off Your Desk Day? I have now idea of the history of this designation, but suspect that it may be a creation of office supply stores. At least if you do an Internet search, you’ll probably end up at office supply store web sites.
There are people who are organized enough that they don’t need a “Clean off Your Desk” holiday. I know people who never leave a messy desk. I’m not one of them. I remember attending a clergy meeting years ago at which one of the pastors described his practice of dealing with each piece of paper as it came to his desk. The paper was filed, read, paid, or answered as it got to his desk. Each day when the mail came in, he took all of his mail out of the envelopes, made one neat stack on his desk and then dealt with each piece of paper in turn until the desk was bare. This pastor was well organized and probably an efficient administrator. He never developed a reputation for being an exciting preacher and he spent his entire career in entry-level pastorates. To put it another way: he was organized, efficient and boring.
I can’t operate that way. If I am working on a sermon – or even my blog most days – I can have as many as three or four books opened on my desk along with a stack of notes about the topic. In addition there are papers that I have received in the mail and set aside to deal with at another time. I can come up with a lot of reasons to keep a paper on my desk. I once read that more than 80% of filed documents are never retrieved. There is little difference between filing a piece of paper and throwing it away in many cases. I have files. And I have some documents that I keep. Increasingly, I am transferring my files to the computer, but still one does need to have some system of organizing things so that they can be retrieved when needed. The truth is that some documents require thought – and time. Dealing with each piece of mail as it comes in means that some letters are answered without sufficient research or thought, some bills are paid before they are due and some items are dealt with out of order.
So, National Clean Off Your Desk Day isn’t getting much attention at my home. And, since many weeks I take Mondays as my day off, my desk at work won’t be getting any attention today. Still, it is a good idea. Even if you are like me and not organized about your workspace, cleaning up the desk once a year isn’t too much to ask.
Another reason National Clean Off Your Desk Day isn’t getting too much attention from me is that January 8 is also National English Toffee Day. Hmm . . . which would I prefer to do: clean off my desk or eat English Toffee?
There is a semantic problem with celebrating National English Toffee Day in the United States. The stuff is, after all English Toffee. It isn’t United States Toffee. Basic toffee is made by caramelizing sugar or molasses with butter. If you heat it to around 300 degrees it becomes pourable and turns a lovely color. English toffee has crushed almonds in it. The combination of the butter and almonds with the sweetness of the candy and the chewy texture make for a real treat. Think Heath Candy Bar and you pretty much have English Toffee, though I’m sure that a real connoisseur might turn up his nose at the commercial product in favor of home made candy.
I won’t be observing National English Toffee Day this year, however. I have an appointment to be sitting in the Dentist’s chair at 8:45 this morning, so the investment I have made in my teeth will be in my mind throughout the day. I’m pretty sure that English Toffee is not at the top of the foods dentists recommend for their patients to eat to maintain a healthy mouth. So I guess I’ll skip that holiday this year.
Let’s see, no National Clean Off Your Desk Day, no National English Toffee Day. What holiday should I observe today?
Another approach to holidays is to take a look at history. January 8 is the anniversary of the first State of the Union address made by President George Washington to the congress in 1790 in New York City, which was serving as the provisional capital of the country. The State of the Union address isn’t technically required by the constitution, which does require the President to make information available to the congress. Thomas Jefferson refused to read his own reports, considering the practice to be too much like the monarchial practice of a Speech from the Throne. He sent a written report to the Congress to be read by a clerk. Subsequent presidents imitated the practice until Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice of making a speech to a joint session of the congress in 1913. These days, however, Presidents don’t give the speech at the beginning of the month. The currently observed tradition is for the address to be given on the last Wednesday in January.
So I guess it isn’t going to be State of the Union day either. So here is my plan for today’s holiday. I’m going to rest up and prepare for tomorrow. There are plenty of holidays that require preparation. For Christmas, we have four weeks of Advent to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for the special holiday. In the case of Easter, we invest six weeks of Lenten preparation. Significant holidays require times of making ourselves ready. So today can be a day of preparation for tomorrow’s holiday. It should be a good day to celebrate.
You may be shocked to learn that tomorrow will be National Static Electricity Day!
Enjoy!
There are people who are organized enough that they don’t need a “Clean off Your Desk” holiday. I know people who never leave a messy desk. I’m not one of them. I remember attending a clergy meeting years ago at which one of the pastors described his practice of dealing with each piece of paper as it came to his desk. The paper was filed, read, paid, or answered as it got to his desk. Each day when the mail came in, he took all of his mail out of the envelopes, made one neat stack on his desk and then dealt with each piece of paper in turn until the desk was bare. This pastor was well organized and probably an efficient administrator. He never developed a reputation for being an exciting preacher and he spent his entire career in entry-level pastorates. To put it another way: he was organized, efficient and boring.
I can’t operate that way. If I am working on a sermon – or even my blog most days – I can have as many as three or four books opened on my desk along with a stack of notes about the topic. In addition there are papers that I have received in the mail and set aside to deal with at another time. I can come up with a lot of reasons to keep a paper on my desk. I once read that more than 80% of filed documents are never retrieved. There is little difference between filing a piece of paper and throwing it away in many cases. I have files. And I have some documents that I keep. Increasingly, I am transferring my files to the computer, but still one does need to have some system of organizing things so that they can be retrieved when needed. The truth is that some documents require thought – and time. Dealing with each piece of mail as it comes in means that some letters are answered without sufficient research or thought, some bills are paid before they are due and some items are dealt with out of order.
So, National Clean Off Your Desk Day isn’t getting much attention at my home. And, since many weeks I take Mondays as my day off, my desk at work won’t be getting any attention today. Still, it is a good idea. Even if you are like me and not organized about your workspace, cleaning up the desk once a year isn’t too much to ask.
Another reason National Clean Off Your Desk Day isn’t getting too much attention from me is that January 8 is also National English Toffee Day. Hmm . . . which would I prefer to do: clean off my desk or eat English Toffee?
There is a semantic problem with celebrating National English Toffee Day in the United States. The stuff is, after all English Toffee. It isn’t United States Toffee. Basic toffee is made by caramelizing sugar or molasses with butter. If you heat it to around 300 degrees it becomes pourable and turns a lovely color. English toffee has crushed almonds in it. The combination of the butter and almonds with the sweetness of the candy and the chewy texture make for a real treat. Think Heath Candy Bar and you pretty much have English Toffee, though I’m sure that a real connoisseur might turn up his nose at the commercial product in favor of home made candy.
I won’t be observing National English Toffee Day this year, however. I have an appointment to be sitting in the Dentist’s chair at 8:45 this morning, so the investment I have made in my teeth will be in my mind throughout the day. I’m pretty sure that English Toffee is not at the top of the foods dentists recommend for their patients to eat to maintain a healthy mouth. So I guess I’ll skip that holiday this year.
Let’s see, no National Clean Off Your Desk Day, no National English Toffee Day. What holiday should I observe today?
Another approach to holidays is to take a look at history. January 8 is the anniversary of the first State of the Union address made by President George Washington to the congress in 1790 in New York City, which was serving as the provisional capital of the country. The State of the Union address isn’t technically required by the constitution, which does require the President to make information available to the congress. Thomas Jefferson refused to read his own reports, considering the practice to be too much like the monarchial practice of a Speech from the Throne. He sent a written report to the Congress to be read by a clerk. Subsequent presidents imitated the practice until Woodrow Wilson re-established the practice of making a speech to a joint session of the congress in 1913. These days, however, Presidents don’t give the speech at the beginning of the month. The currently observed tradition is for the address to be given on the last Wednesday in January.
So I guess it isn’t going to be State of the Union day either. So here is my plan for today’s holiday. I’m going to rest up and prepare for tomorrow. There are plenty of holidays that require preparation. For Christmas, we have four weeks of Advent to prepare ourselves mentally and spiritually for the special holiday. In the case of Easter, we invest six weeks of Lenten preparation. Significant holidays require times of making ourselves ready. So today can be a day of preparation for tomorrow’s holiday. It should be a good day to celebrate.
You may be shocked to learn that tomorrow will be National Static Electricity Day!
Enjoy!