That's Washington's Birthday to you, bub!

When I was a kid, it was Washington's Birthday. And it was celebrated on February 22nd. None of this Monday holiday/long weekend folderol. For kids, the day it was celebrated mattered not, as whatever day W's B-day fell on was during our winter vacation week. (It goes without saying that, as a working adult, I grew to love those long weekends...)

Whatever day Washington's Birthday fell on, my mother usually made a chocolate sheet cake with vanilla frosting, studded with maraschino cherries. And she usually made sure that the ice cream on hand was cherry vanilla.

What I wouldn't give for a piece of that cake! As for cherry-vanilla ice cream, I'm going with a pint of Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia - an improvement on plain old cherry vanilla, since it adds bits of chocolate. 

Somewhere along the line, the name of the holiday transitioned to Presidents' Day. Or President's Day. Or Presidents Day. 

But the official federal holiday remains Washington's Birthday. 

States do their own thing, and, in Massachsuetts, we stuck with Washington's Birthday. Which I wasn't actually aware until just now was the case, but which I'm fine with. 

Beats having to asterisk the holiday and add a list of the presidents you believe should be omitted from any celebration and honor whatsover. (Looking at you, DJT.)

In munging around, I did find this useful map. It's from 2019, so a bit dated. But it's interesting to see how the day is observed (or not) around these not-so United States. Sticking with Washington's Birthday has to be one of the few tings Massachusetts has in common with North Dakota, Missouri, Indiana, Mississippi, and Georgia, that's for sure. And there's no way I'd ever live in Utah, but I like that they split the day with Abraham Lincoln, my all time fave.  

Other than eating some Ben and Jerry's Cherry Garcia, I will be doing little or nothing to celebrate today. Maybe I'll avoid the news (i.e., stay off MSNBC and Twitter) so that I won't have to spend one iota of energy stressing about Trump and the majority of the Republic Party trying to tear the country apart and install an authoritarian white nationalist regime.

 Maybe I'll rejoin Ancestry and see whether I'm related to Joe Biden, who has some roots in County Louth, not far from where one pair of my great-grandparents hail from. 

And maybe I'll reread what I had to say last year, when I wrote about my favorite presidents. 

Actually, I couldn't wait and went ahead and did my reread. Agree with it all.

Happy Washington's Birthday to my favorite presidents. You know who you are!