How to Celebrate Presidents Day

If you are one of the lucky people to get the day off from work on Presidents Day, you may be wondering what to do with yourself. Unlike the 4^th of July with its parades and illegal fireworks and Thanksgiving with its big turkey dinner and annoying relatives, no one has established traditions for celebrating President's Day. Until now.

Here are five great ways to celebrate Presidents Day:

How to Celebrate Presidents Day Idea #1: Spend Money-Although spending money is a good way to celebrate any holiday, Presidents Day is the perfect day for monetary merriment. For some reason, a lot of stores have sales that day. Plus, whose picture is on our money? Presidents. What better way to honor them than to look at their pictures all day as you hand over your fives, tens and twenties to a cashier who couldn't get the day off. Just don't spend any $10,000 bills because they have a picture of a guy named Salmon P. Chase, who was never a U.S. president and may have even been a fugitive fish for all we know.

How to Celebrate Presidents Day Idea #2: Veto Things-Instead of answering questions such as "Can we visit my parents instead of going to Hawaii this year" or "Can we get a dog?" with a sheepish "no" response, use your most authoritative presidential voice and say, "I veto that." For some reason "no" does not always mean "no," and pesky people will persist in asking you the same question over and over again until they wear you down. A veto, on the other hand, shows you mean business and will only change your mind if a lobbyist contributes to your campaign fund.

How to Celebrate Presidents Day Idea #3: Choose a Favorite President-Most of us have favorite foods, favorite colors and favorite TV shows, but unless you are a Tea Party member and have pictures of Ronald Reagan all over your house, chances are you do not have a favorite president. What better day than Presidents Day to choose one. Since it would take too long to read books about all the presidents, quickly skim Wikipedia and be assured at least some of the "facts" may be true.

How to Celebrate Presidents Day Idea #4: Watch a Movie About a President-A good way to avoid doing chores and other boring things on Presidents Day is to rent a movie that has a U.S. President as one of its characters. Movie options range from the cerebral PBS documentary "Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil & The Presidency" to the comedic "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," the latter choice better suited for those who plan to celebrate Presidents Day with their friend Samuel Adams. Sadly, you will not have a chance to watch "The Kennedys," a movie starring Greg Kinnear as JFK and Katie Holmes as first lady Jackie O'Kennedy. The controversial made-for-TV mini-series mysteriously vanished from The History Channel schedule in the United States but will be aired in Canada and England later this year. Maybe by next President's Day 2012, you'll be able to Netflix "The Kennedys" and find out what all the fuss was about.

How to Celebrate Presidents Day Idea #5: Argue About Whether its Presidents Day or Presidents' Day-If you're really bored, you can always find a language nerd with whom to debate about whether Presidents Day should have an apostrophe. In a delightfully snarky Cee Lo Greenesque article titled, "SO, DOES VETERANS DAY HAVE A F***ING APOSTROPHE OR WHAT?" novelist Caren Lissner explains that Presidents Day is not really an official holiday. Back in the 70s, Washington's Birthday was moved to the third Monday of each month as part of the federal Monday Holiday Law and advertisers started calling it Presidents Day because they thought people would spend more money if more presidents were involved. Since Congress never approved the name change, you can think of the day as belonging to all the presidents and use an apostrophe (e.g., Presidents' Day), and if you view the word presidents as a modifier describing the day, don't use an apostrophe. And if anyone objects, just tell them it's a free country, provided they are not an IRS agent.

What you cannot do on Presidents Day: Receive Mail-In case you are planning to spend the day checking your mailbox, don't bother. There is no mail on Presidents Day. This topic is fully discussed in a related article titled "Is There Mail on Presidents Day?" if you are interested in learning more about this perennial postal puzzler.

On a more serious note, Presidents Day is a great day for all Americans to appreciate the fact that we have the privilege to elect our leader every four years. So even if you think our current president is an alien from Mars or the previous president had the IQ of his last name, living in a country where it is legal to criticize our president is something to celebrate. Just ask the Egyptians.

Sources:
Bill Brioux, "Kennedys director stunned by decision not to air series," thestar.com
Caren Lissner, "SO, DOES VETERANS DAY HAVE A F***ING APOSTROPHE OR WHAT," Blacktable.com
Nancy Tracy, "Is There Mail on Presidents Day?" Associated Content