Mother's Day
Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 4:16 pm
I've been in my ward for two years, and each year for Mother's Day they've handed out a single carnation to all the women. I think this is the lamest thing ever, because a) I have no use for a flower, and b) we're all forced to carry our flowers around during the block and they end up bent in half, or, if you're in Primary, completely destroyed by toddlers. My stance is this: if you love someone, say it with baked goods.
I'll be bringing this up in ward council, so I want your input on a few things.
1. Are cookies a good idea, or do you think that creates too many problems with diabetics and people with food allergies? Or is it the thought that counts, like with the flowers? In my Provo ward the bishop's wife baked us all a selection of three cookies for Mother's Day, and it was wonderful.
2. If you're single or childless, are you personally weirded out when the ward forces Mother's Day gifts on you? Every ward I've ever been in has done this, even to the Young Women. I get that from a logistical standpoint you kind of have to give a gift to all the women or risk offending infertile women or outing pregnant women who are semi-mothers, but in my experience it's always awkward.
3. Typically they hand out Mother's Day gifts at the end of sacrament meeting by making all the women stand, essentially detaining them until they've been given a gift. Maybe they think it's a good idea to honor us publicly, or logistically it's just easier to corner the womenfolk when we're all still in the chapel. Is there another way? Could they come into RS, Primary, and YW at the start of third hour and deliver the gifts then? Like, the gifts could go around in a basket and if you want to be recognized as a mother, feel free to take one?
4. Like I said, I like the idea of cookies. But that means baking several hundred cookies, and I know what will happen if the men in my ward are in charge - they'll end up having their wives do it, which totally defeats the purpose of a Mother's Day gift. Is it too much to basically say hey, your past gifts have been kinda meh, I insist you kick it up a notch, and I suggest you delegate among the priesthood auxiliaries to get these cookies baked? I get that it's the height of rudeness to demand a gift from anybody when you aren't technically owed one, and then insist on things being done a certain way, but I'm tired of politely accepting the same blah gift every year, even if it is a nice gesture. Am I out of line? Or should I just bake them all myself for the greater good?
Help me out here. I can't decide if I'm taking this too far or if everyone secretly feels the same way I do and would rejoice if I piped up and said something.
I'll be bringing this up in ward council, so I want your input on a few things.
1. Are cookies a good idea, or do you think that creates too many problems with diabetics and people with food allergies? Or is it the thought that counts, like with the flowers? In my Provo ward the bishop's wife baked us all a selection of three cookies for Mother's Day, and it was wonderful.
2. If you're single or childless, are you personally weirded out when the ward forces Mother's Day gifts on you? Every ward I've ever been in has done this, even to the Young Women. I get that from a logistical standpoint you kind of have to give a gift to all the women or risk offending infertile women or outing pregnant women who are semi-mothers, but in my experience it's always awkward.
3. Typically they hand out Mother's Day gifts at the end of sacrament meeting by making all the women stand, essentially detaining them until they've been given a gift. Maybe they think it's a good idea to honor us publicly, or logistically it's just easier to corner the womenfolk when we're all still in the chapel. Is there another way? Could they come into RS, Primary, and YW at the start of third hour and deliver the gifts then? Like, the gifts could go around in a basket and if you want to be recognized as a mother, feel free to take one?
4. Like I said, I like the idea of cookies. But that means baking several hundred cookies, and I know what will happen if the men in my ward are in charge - they'll end up having their wives do it, which totally defeats the purpose of a Mother's Day gift. Is it too much to basically say hey, your past gifts have been kinda meh, I insist you kick it up a notch, and I suggest you delegate among the priesthood auxiliaries to get these cookies baked? I get that it's the height of rudeness to demand a gift from anybody when you aren't technically owed one, and then insist on things being done a certain way, but I'm tired of politely accepting the same blah gift every year, even if it is a nice gesture. Am I out of line? Or should I just bake them all myself for the greater good?
Help me out here. I can't decide if I'm taking this too far or if everyone secretly feels the same way I do and would rejoice if I piped up and said something.