WEBVTT - Little holidays, big fun

0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:06.720
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.960
<v Speaker 1>Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

0:00:14.680 --> 0:00:18.919
<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is to do something fun to celebrate little holidays.

0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:23.560
<v Speaker 1>Quirky traditions can help make memories, make people feel like

0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:26.920
<v Speaker 1>part of a group, and in general make life more enjoyable.

0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.080
<v Speaker 1>This episode is first airing on Halloween, which at least

0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.640
<v Speaker 1>in the US, has become a big day for kids

0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.320
<v Speaker 1>and adults alike. My four children picked out their costumes

0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:40.920
<v Speaker 1>earlier in the month. The elementary school kids will parade

0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:43.400
<v Speaker 1>around their school grounds. For parents who I learned this

0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:45.839
<v Speaker 1>after moving here, will all take a half day to

0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:49.479
<v Speaker 1>come watch. We'll go trick or treating tonight, picking up

0:00:49.479 --> 0:00:52.440
<v Speaker 1>candy from neighbors. My kids don't even have that much

0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:55.440
<v Speaker 1>interest in the candy after a week or so. It's

0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:58.160
<v Speaker 1>more just the fun of being out and about doing

0:00:58.200 --> 0:01:02.480
<v Speaker 1>something different than the usual teene of dinner, homework, and bed.

0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.440
<v Speaker 1>My heavy partying days are likely behind me, but from

0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.679
<v Speaker 1>what I hear, Halloween is also a big night at

0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.240
<v Speaker 1>the bars, with adults seizing the opportunity to dress up

0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:16.720
<v Speaker 1>creatively or subversively. Some of us stretch out the fun

0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.600
<v Speaker 1>by adding in festive holiday activities in our communities, such

0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:23.759
<v Speaker 1>as a boo at the zoo or visits to pumpkin patches,

0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:25.960
<v Speaker 1>and I like to throw in little things for the

0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.600
<v Speaker 1>day itself. For the past few years, I've made pumpkin

0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:34.039
<v Speaker 1>shaped pancakes on Halloween morning and attempted to die them orange.

0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.840
<v Speaker 1>So why do we do these things? Holidays and special

0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.720
<v Speaker 1>days in general are a big part of being human.

0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:44.880
<v Speaker 1>We like to celebrate. In particular, we like to celebrate

0:01:44.920 --> 0:01:48.840
<v Speaker 1>special days to gather as families and communities, and we

0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.680
<v Speaker 1>mark the passage of time by seeing holidays come and

0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:57.000
<v Speaker 1>go on the calendar. Again, that's true for all holidays,

0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:01.680
<v Speaker 1>but I think that minor holidays like Halloween or Valentine's

0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:06.320
<v Speaker 1>Day present particularly good opportunities to add a little happiness

0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:10.079
<v Speaker 1>to life. Part of the appeal is that they are minor.

0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:15.040
<v Speaker 1>Major religious holidays such as Christmas or Passover have millennia

0:02:15.120 --> 0:02:17.840
<v Speaker 1>of traditions behind them and thus produce a lot of

0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:21.160
<v Speaker 1>pressure to get it right. You are plugging into long

0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.600
<v Speaker 1>standing customs. There can be much joy in that. There

0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.000
<v Speaker 1>can also be a lot of seriousness unless space for

0:02:28.080 --> 0:02:32.960
<v Speaker 1>quirky approaches. Also, with the big holidays. Our calendars already

0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:37.520
<v Speaker 1>acknowledge them. Many offices closed around the Christmas holiday, or

0:02:37.520 --> 0:02:40.520
<v Speaker 1>there's an assumption that people will want it off. In

0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.120
<v Speaker 1>my school district, we always have Spring Break, the week

0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:48.160
<v Speaker 1>of Passover and Easter. Life already changes for these holidays.

0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:51.840
<v Speaker 1>The minor holidays, on the other hand, give us an

0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.920
<v Speaker 1>opportunity to take our normal lives and switch them up

0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.040
<v Speaker 1>a notch, usually with a focus on fun. Magazines don't

0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:02.640
<v Speaker 1>devote whole issue is to reducing Halloween stress or St.

0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:05.320
<v Speaker 1>Patrick's Day stress. You don't feel like you have to

0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.720
<v Speaker 1>do a whole lot, and so you voluntarily choose to

0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.360
<v Speaker 1>do little things. You celebrate at your regular office or school.

0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.120
<v Speaker 1>You take a regular Thursday and just make it more special.

0:03:16.960 --> 0:03:19.399
<v Speaker 1>This creates memories and makes people feel like they're part

0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:23.320
<v Speaker 1>of something. So how should you celebrate minor holidays at

0:03:23.360 --> 0:03:27.920
<v Speaker 1>home in the office? First notice that they're coming up.

0:03:28.800 --> 0:03:32.120
<v Speaker 1>Choose two to three per year to focus on Halloween,

0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:34.920
<v Speaker 1>Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day might be good choices,

0:03:35.000 --> 0:03:37.320
<v Speaker 1>but if you want to do Arbor Day, go for it.

0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.240
<v Speaker 1>And of course people listening to this in countries outside

0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.800
<v Speaker 1>the US have a whole host of other options from

0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.080
<v Speaker 1>their cultures for their minor holidays. Think about what you

0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:49.560
<v Speaker 1>could do to make them special personally. I'm a big

0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.400
<v Speaker 1>fan of celebrating at breakfast. I've made heart shaped pancakes

0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.440
<v Speaker 1>and four leaf clover shaped pancakes in addition to my

0:03:56.440 --> 0:03:59.720
<v Speaker 1>pumpkin ones. Even the morning's fruit can match the color

0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.920
<v Speaker 1>of the day. Maybe you bring in shamrocks shaped donuts

0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:07.280
<v Speaker 1>to your office or cater at pumpkins centered lunch. Halloween

0:04:07.320 --> 0:04:10.160
<v Speaker 1>lends itself to costumes, but dressing up in general can

0:04:10.200 --> 0:04:13.600
<v Speaker 1>be fun. Hence the green on St. Patrick's Day and

0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.000
<v Speaker 1>the various red and pink options I've supported on Valentine's Day.

0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.960
<v Speaker 1>And then maybe there's some other way you can mark

0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.320
<v Speaker 1>the occasion. I get my kids Valentine's Day cards with

0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:25.960
<v Speaker 1>a note saying how much I love them. We make

0:04:26.040 --> 0:04:30.080
<v Speaker 1>leprechn traps on St. Patrick's Day. The leprecn always escapes,

0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:34.080
<v Speaker 1>but he leaves rainbow colored or gold candy of some sort.

0:04:35.040 --> 0:04:38.559
<v Speaker 1>In time, quirky traditions become part of a culture, whether

0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:43.120
<v Speaker 1>of a family or a workplace. We're the family that

0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:47.880
<v Speaker 1>has silly shaped pancakes on holidays. We're the office where

0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.160
<v Speaker 1>we eat beet salads and strawberries and red velvet cupcakes

0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.719
<v Speaker 1>on Valentine's Day. We are part of this together and

0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.680
<v Speaker 1>while we certainly hope identities are stronger than that, you're

0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.000
<v Speaker 1>also a family that really pulls together in an emerge

0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:02.320
<v Speaker 1>and see her. Maybe you're the most diverse department in

0:05:02.320 --> 0:05:05.560
<v Speaker 1>your company. There's no reason not to submit these identities

0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:09.600
<v Speaker 1>when we can. In time, they can actually become our

0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:13.800
<v Speaker 1>memories of the time we spent together. Oh yeah, I

0:05:13.839 --> 0:05:17.280
<v Speaker 1>remember my years at that company. I enjoyed them. We

0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.480
<v Speaker 1>had the silliest holiday lunches. So how will you celebrate

0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:24.800
<v Speaker 1>Halloween and other minor holidays this year? If you've got

0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:27.919
<v Speaker 1>a quirky tradition as a family or an office, you

0:05:27.960 --> 0:05:30.920
<v Speaker 1>can let me know about it at Before Breakfast Podcast

0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:35.359
<v Speaker 1>at iHeart media dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.599
<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of

0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:48.039
<v Speaker 1>our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

0:05:48.040 --> 0:05:50.960
<v Speaker 1>You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

0:05:51.680 --> 0:05:55.280
<v Speaker 1>Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

0:05:55.320 --> 0:06:00.800
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast Pod. That's b the number four than Breakfast

0:06:01.200 --> 0:06:03.960
<v Speaker 1>p o D. You can also shoot me an email

0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:07.960
<v Speaker 1>at before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com that

0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.279
<v Speaker 1>Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks

0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:19.240
<v Speaker 1>so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before

0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.320
<v Speaker 1>Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more

0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.839
<v Speaker 1>podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,

0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.320
<v Speaker 1>Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.