An Old-Fashioned May Day Celebration

After selecting and planting their flowers and delivering them on May Day morning, the children were invited to Grandmother’s house for an old-fashioned May Day lunch and celebration.

I saw a quotation on Pinterest that read “This project started in confusion and will end in disarray.” It immediately made me think of my Mom, who swears she is the worst crafter on the planet. She has a great eye for style and dreams of creating things, but when the finished project does not match what she envisioned, she wants to wad it up and throw it in the trash. She also lacks the patience to fiddle with small parts and supplies (something I think she passed on to me: making tiny treats for Gideon’s birthday party together left us both whining and wanting very much to beat our heads against the wall).

All that to say, she called me with a fit of giggles the night before May Day as she tried her best to create flower crowns for the girls to wear at the party. They were not doing what she wanted them to do and, quite frankly, her disdain for crafting and her past failures caused her to lose her confidence to the extent that she wasn’t even trying (in my opinion). Finally, I said “Mom, do you have any idea how smart you are?! I think if you use your brain you can DO this!” We laughed, even as I knew that by the next day, her crowns would be perfect; even if she doesn’t think she is good at crafts, I know how gifted she is and that her projects usually pan out after all the whining and frustration.

Love that woman.

And I absolutely loved this May Day party, flower crowns and all.

~

Anna and Gideon (wearing a flowerless Greek Olympian inspired crown) share secrets by the door as they wait for the party to begin…

our eldest Spring nymph, Abigail Grace, is about to be 8 years old, but she is mature enough to think that dancing on May Day with a group of little ones is pretty awesome…

and then there is my little fair flower of femininity, Rebekah Sunday…

Lining up for the May Pole…

Gideon, growing up surrounded by girls, doesn’t think twice about joining in…

all you need for a May Pole dance is a pole (duh), long strands of ribbon, a Celtic Woman CD (or anything lilty or Springy or dancey), pretty dresses, flower crowns, and willing participants. We obviously met all the requirements…

I don’t know if anyone got into the spirit of things better than our dreamy Anna Ruth…

We had to keep our eye on this precious girl lest the wood fairies take her away. How I love Kate Belle…

and don’t even get me started on this girl. Sometimes I don’t know what to do with her, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without her…

Like my Mom’s crafts…

this project started in confusion…

and ended in disarray. 

But what a lovely mess it was…

inspiring laughter…

and happy smiles…

and clapping (gasp! It’s Mrs. Gore!)…

and lots and lots of spinning and twirling.

As usual, Betsie couldn’t join in the festivities, but she had lots of fun from afar…

happily snacking (or more likely teething) on Granddaddy’s fence.

Best “fwiends” Kate and Rebekah pose together after the dance…

they never make it through a day without at least one fistfight, but they are deeply devoted to one another and grow sad when they have to say goodbye.

Grandmother’s flower crowns turned out quite lovely, if you ask me…

but one thing she REALLY knows how to do is DESSERT…

You can always tell if a party is successful by how dirty Miss Sunday is at the party’s close…

May Day success.

~

As ever, thank you to my Mom for her thoughtful and generous love, and for Amy for taking such lovely photos. What a team!

And I hope all of you will consider celebrating May Day next year! I happen to know a lady who makes simply beautiful May Day crowns…

May Day Delivery

I’ve been told that playing Santa is even more fun that receiving gifts from him. (I’m not so sure of that…)

But such is definitely the case with May Day…

As much as I love receiving a basket of flowers on my doorstep on May 1st, the real fun is in the delivering.

Per Grandmother’s request, our little clan woke up bright and early on May Day morning, excited to deliver our flowers to the dear sisters in our church who are widowed. I am so grateful to my Mom for aiding us in teaching our children how to care for the ones we love; what wonderful lessons she is teaching our little ones! And who am I kidding?…I learn a good lesson from her pretty near ’bout everyday.

Somehow we were able to get the kids dressed and fed, and congregate at Amy’s house early – for us – on May Day morning.

The children were atwitter.

And so was I.

We loaded our surprises into Amy’s big red wagon…

and through the streets of our town we walked, stopping in to see some of our favorite ladies.

It was a beautiful day…

and a beautiful memory.

And that was just the beginning…

Comin’ up: our first old-fashioned May Day CELEBRATION!

The Eve of May Day

So I’m just now getting around to our May Day celebration…

~

As is her pattern, Grandmother had a holiday surprise for her homeschooling grandchildren, this time scheduled for May 1st. On the Sunday before May Day, invitations were handed out to the children bearing very mysterious instructions. The requests were simple, but vague: Be at Amy’s house in the morning at 10:00, be at Amy’s house the next morning at 9:00 and be at Grandmother’s house after that at 11:00.

As is our pattern, we obeyed.

And this is what she had up her sleeve…

She led the children across the street to “The Potting Shed”, an outstanding local business our small town has recently been blessed with. I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to run down the street for our flowers rather than drive allllllll the way to Tulsa…

Miss Cindy opened shop just for us on this beautiful morning, which made our outing seem even more special and important. My Mom informed the children that we would be making May Day baskets for several of the widows in our church, and that they could each pick whatever flowers they thought were pretty.

Of course, Betsie is too young to participate, but she had fun, nonetheless…

And soon we were boxing up our purchases and toting them back to Amy’s house…

Then the real work began…

Finally, our May Day surprises were ready to go…

And only one sleep separated us from our first real May Day celebration…

~

Coming tomorrow…the delivery!

(Oh, and if you live in my town and have not visited The Potting Shed, you should go. Immediately! Time’s a’wastin’!)

A Happy May Day Story.

A blog bouquet for you, dear friend!

Since it would be impossible to drop a surprise basket of flowers off at your door this morning, I’ll tell you a funny story instead…

When Mr. Gore and I were in our first year of marriage, we lived in a tiny apartment on the beautiful grounds of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. Money was scarce, but life was incredibly sweet, each gift truly cherished and appreciated.

Although our budget was extremely tight, my husband did his best to provide for me the life I was accustomed to, but as you well know, he had some pretty big shoes to fill, as my Mom is the queen of holidays and gift-giving.

Thus, when she called him on May 1st and told him that I would be expecting a basket of May Day flowers, he accepted her words as a grave reality and immediately called my brother, Jerry, who lived just down the hill from us.

“Did you know today is May Day?” Chris asked him.

“What’s May Day?” Jerry asked.

Chris explained, and when Jerry learned that Chris would be buying flowers for me, he knew it was inescapable…he had to buy flowers for my sister-in-law, Amy, too.

So to the store they scrambled to find what they could.

But as they were out and about, my Dad called Jerry to see what he was up to.

“We’re buying May Day flowers for Lesley and Amy.” he told him.

“What’s May Day?” my Dad asked.

“I don’t really know…but I do know Mom will be expecting some flowers!” Jerry warned him.

Now my Dad, too, was on a flower chase, knowing he couldn’t possibly return home from work without a basket of May Day flowers.

Later that day, when Mr. Gore came through our door with a beautiful basket of flowers, I gasped. They were gorgeous. And absolutely unexpected!

“What is this for?!” I exclaimed.

“For May Day.” he replied matter-of-factly.

“…What’s May Day?’ I asked, voice full of wonder.

I had never even heard of it.

But I LIKED it.

Amy, my Mom and I were all thrilled to get flowers that day…

And Mr. Gore, seeing my delight, was thrilled to have yet another annual holiday to worry about, thanks to his dear mother-in-law! 

~

Happy May Day! There’s still time, you know ~ perhaps you could surprise someone with a basket of flowers on their doorstep. Or do the world a favor and at least call your son-in-law to tell him it is CRUCIAL that he buy your daughter some flowers. In the end, you might end up with a basket yourself!