Happy May Day!!

Okay, so I know I'm a day late.  But here's a May Day post anyway.  :)

May Day as a kid in Minnesota was one of my most favorite holidays.  It was almost as if May Day symbolized that it was okay to put the winter coats and boots away, that Spring was actually here to stay.  Of course, there were a few years when we got snow after May Day, which was depressing, but for the most part, May Day started Spring.

I grew up in a neighborhood full of kids my own age.  We would run up and down the street in packs, playing hide-and-seek, baseball, street ball, dodge ball, and tag.  Would would race our hot wheels up and down the driveway, and when we were too big for the hot wheels, we'd race our bikes up and down the street.  I can imagine it was difficult for a car to make it down the street without almost taking out a kid or two.

May Day was a big deal on our street.  For those of you not familiar with May Day (or May Day as we did it), I will give you a quick rundown.  May Day is all about the May Day basket.  The basket in question is usually a Dixie or Solo cup, filled with treats of some description.  Anything from candy to popcorn to peanuts to Cheetos...anything goes for the May Day basket.  This was back in the day when it was perfectly safe to give out unwrapped food items that contained gluten/GMOs/artificial colors and flavors/etc.  Usually mom finished ours off with a licorice handle.  You then run and deliver all the May Day baskets to the front stoops of your friends and neighbors, ring their door bell and then run away before they can get outside to catch you.  Technically when they caught you they were supposed to give you a kiss, but we skipped that part.  We preferred to give each other a pinch instead.

As you can imagine, a street full of kids delivering and receiving May Day baskets could turn into all out Mayhem (you see what I did there?).  But it was so much fun!  Some of my best memories of childhood center around me running around the neighborhood with my friends.  May Day for me meant that school was almost over, and that I could look forward to an entire summer of tearing around with my friends in the sunshine.  What simple needs we all had back then.  

Yesterday I found myself wondering if kids still do May Day baskets.  I hope so.  I hope they're enjoying it as much as I did, and that they're gearing up for a summer full of fun and sunshine.  I was thinking about what I could give to my neighbors now if I was going to do May Day baskets, seeing as I live in a community full of adults.  Beer and chocolate chip cookies would probably fit the bill.  They'd probably think I'd lost my mind, but would most likely appreciate the gesture.  Who wouldn't want beer and chocolate chip cookies??

Anyway, happy first day of Spring, as remembered to you by 9 year-old me.  :)