I'm sure you've never noticed, but there is no holiday to celebrate aunts or uncles.
As there should be, there's Mother's Day; it was started as an anti-war effort, a cause true to my heart, but I also support its current manifestation of appreciating all that mothers do. I often go a little crazy and support not just my mother but the many important mothers whom I know and am impressed by.
There's a Father's Day, which is tough for me because my father is not very good at being a father. How do you show "appreciation" for someone that you don't really appreciate? Luckily my brother-in-law is a great father so I have someone to honor and appreciate every Father's Day.
There's Grandparents Day, which is somewhat redundent since, by definition, those folks are also already parents. There's even Boss's Day and Administrative Assistant Day! Hey, they aren't even family! Although we probably spend more time with them than we do with our families. :( But what about the aunts and uncles of the world?! Don't we support our families? Where's the love? I can understand parents not caring whether they're honored for also being an aunt or uncle, but what about all those single folks out there? For some of us, being an aunt or uncle is the closest that we every will be, or want to be, to being a parent. We're still involved in the lives of children, and, in some small way, we may help raise healthy, happy humans.
Granted, most of these holidays are really Hallmark holidays designed to make you feel guilty if you don't buy presents, but I still wanted one so that my family could show their appreciation for me. May be I'm selfish.
If you know me, though, you know that I'm probably the most involved aunt that you've ever met. I've never met an aunt more involved than me, and I can only imagine it if the aunt was actually raising the kids. That's the only way that you could be more involved, I think. Well, may be if you were the full-time babysitter. Regardless, my niece and nephews are the lights of my life. I never understood unconditional love until I met my niece in the airport when she was about 2 months old. I visit them 6 times a year, even though I live in a different state. I flew home once just to be there when my nephew took his first sauna.
Anyway, my family had talked about the lack of an Auntie Day, so we created one. After several years of deciding on what the date would be, we decided on December 28th. I liked that day because I knew that I'd already be around my family for other holidays so I wouldn't have to make an extra trip, and it was past the craziness of gift-buying.
This year was our inaugural celebration. Auntie Day 2006! It was a little hard to explain when people asked, "What are you doing tonight?", and we'd say something like, "Well, we're celebrating a pretend holiday..." but it was nice nonetheless. I had the day off from babysitting, so I actually got to sleep in and have the day to myself. Then we went to dinner at a restaurant of my choice (I wanted a Benihana's-type place, but we went to a Mongolian grill instead). My sister made a mocha chocolate cake for me. The kids decorated a chair for me, and made a sign. K also created a game for Auntie Day- Auntie Memory! She wrote things that I like on pieces of paper and we matched them. Examples of things on the pairs were "Star Wars", the kids' names, and "Your family loves you." Very, very sweet. And I even won the game! I got gifts, too! My sister gave me a gift certificate for a massage, which was way too expensive, and my Mom gave me a blanket and children's book so that we could snuggle and read.
Anyway, even though we had to make it up, it was a great holiday. I'm glad that my family appreciates me, and I'm glad that my sister lets me love on her kids and be as involved as I am. So honor those who helped raise you or your kids, even if they aren't parents or grandparents.
I can't wait for Auntie Day 2007!
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