Wow! Time sure… flies. 
I hope the replacement Pete passes muster. When Spawn2 was still a baby, a friend suggested we purchase a few replacements for the Favorite Friend, in case something terrible happened to Favorite Friend. We did, and tried to rotate the replacement surreptitiously so that they’d wear at approximately the same rate. It didn’t work. Even at less than a year old, Spawn2 could identify Favorite Friend by smell. We’d try to switch the two while Spawn2 slept. Invariably, the replacement would get rejected. Eventually we gave up, and the replacement developed an identity of it’s own. Thirty-three years later, Spawn2 still sleeps with Favorite Friend, who has become so gray and threadbare I’m amazed it’s still holding together. He has worn a doll-sized sweater for probably 20 years, and that sweater is probably keeping him intact!
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So 
Valentine’s and 
St. Patrick’s Days were skipped right over?
There were a few Valentine’s Day items. St Patrick’s Day isn’t a huge deal in the UK.
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Ahh, had previously read there was a decent sized Irish contingent. Maybe in London central?
I think St. Patrick’s Day is primarily an American holiday.
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Maybe Harters has more in depth knowledge of the background. But there are probably more Americans of Irish heritage living in the US then Irish expats or British people of Irish origin living in the UK. Also, the history of Irish people living in the UK is more complex - they were not very welcome and the Troubles in Northern Ireland and associated terrorism in the UK meant that the sort of leprechauns and rainbows associated with St Patrick’s Day in the US are very much not a thing in the UK.
It’s celebrated almost every where in the U.S. But that’s not to say it isn’t celebrated in countries with large Irish immigration. Or those who are Irish for the day.
There’s a St. Patrick’s Day Festival in Montreal.
Buenos Aires has the 5th largest Irish population in the worl and does plenty of celebrating.
Tokyo hosts a St. Patrick’s Day parade, as does Munich and London.
Yup, I’m well aware of the Troubles. My father directed a film in Ireland about the IRA in1972. So while I know there can still be some animosity, London does have a well-received parade and celebration.
My dad was Irish, emigrated in 1950 or so. He was always amused at the American version of St. Patrick’s Day, with the parties, parades and all. For him, it was a holy day…Mass and a family meal kind of day.
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I’ve heard of people scheduling to be induced or for a C-Section for all kinds of reason so to be the last of one year or the first of another wouldn’t surprise me at all. Most of them were for the convenience of the doctor or parents-to-be.
What a coincidence! Just 12 hours and 29 years apart!
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I think I’ve read similar about Cinco de Mayo.
It did! Luckily he’d only had it since Christmas, so unlikely has imbued it with any special smells as yet.
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I have always thought that Cinco de Mayo picked up steam as a ‘holiday’ in the US in the '70s to focus on Chicano culture in an attempt to be inclusive. During the traditional school year, the actual day of Mexican independence comes too early (September 16) to build up any steam for lesson planning, since schools will have only been in session for a couple of weeks by then (this was when most schools didn’t start until just after Labor Day), so shifting the focus to early May and celebrating a lesser-but-still-significant date in Mexican history was a better fit. The overcommercialization of the date came way later. At least that’s how it’s always seemed to me.
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Do they still come out with a new list every year? I coulda sworn I’ve seen this one before.
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I seem to be getting into plain white rice more recently.
WHO AM I?
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Man, are humans boring. Same old history repeating itself again, and again, and again….
Maybe you’re me. I get cranky if I don’t have plain ol’ rice on the regular. Probably at least 3x weekly.
I don’t know, I got this from Instagram.
