Instead of a beautiful spring day filled with daffodils and sunshine, we are having our 11^th snow day here in this crazy winter in Kentucky.  I am over it already!  But, just this once, I was secretly happy to have them home with me to make the King Cake and celebrate Mardi Gras.  We will be breaking out the bead necklaces and sequined masks and hitting the kitchen for an afternoon of fun together.

We all love our old traditions but who hasn’t let it go a little over the top on Christmas Eve when your child informs you that they forgot to ask Santa for one more thing right after the stores have closed?  Sometimes, those other celebration days on the calendar can give us fun new traditions to enjoy with our kids and actually teach them something while they are least expecting it.  Last year, during my first foray into homeschooling with our youngest daughter, we celebrated Mardi Gras for the first time. 

Mardi Gras, or Fat Tuesday, is traditionally a festival of gluttony before Ash Wednesday when Christians traditionally give up something for the Lenten season leading up to Easter.  It opens the door to discussions about why these traditions came about.  Besides that, who doesn’t love the opportunity to eat too much? 

In our country, New Orleans has become the poster-child for this celebration, so we choose to celebrate with Cajun food.  I am up for anything that introduces foods from different regions and cultures.  We will be trying a new recipe tonight for Baked Cajun Seafood and Rice. 

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/baked-cajun-seafood-and-rice/

Then, of course, will come the King Cake for dessert.  This cheese danish-like delight is finished off with three colors of sprinkles, purple representing justice, green representing faith, and gold representing power.  A small plastic baby representing the baby Jesus is hidden inside the cake and the person who finds it wins a prize.

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/183465662/mardi-gras-cream-cheese-filled-king-cake/

Of course not everyone gets to have a day off with nothing to do but bake with your kids, so go ahead and pick up a King Cake at your Wal-Mart bakery and grab a box of Zatarain’s if you have to.  My point is that every day we get to spend with our families is worth celebrating, have fun with it!