Lenten Planning

Just as I begin planning for Christmas a few months ahead, I have now begun planning for Lent. The start of the Lenten season is February 20th this year --- Shrove Tuesday or, as people in the United States know it, Fat Tuesday. Generally observed as part of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, Fat Tuesday is considered the last day to party before the “deprivation” of Lent. This hearkens back to the old practice of “giving something up” for the forty-day journey to Easter. As a child, it meant that my Catholic friends had to eat fish on Friday. I didn’t understand that when I was younger, and I’m not sure I get it even today because I really don't like fish, but...

In doing some reading about Shrove Tuesday, I discovered that it is, apparently, a day for eating pancakes. Some towns in the British Isles even have pancake races where individuals run relays while flipping pancakes in a skillet. Talk about coordination! Doing anything while running a relay would put me over the edge. I’m just not that athletically gifted. But given the fact that pancakes are a Fat Tuesday tradition in the British Isles and I am, by descent, English, Irish, and Scottish, I have decided to either serve pancakes in my home on February 20th, or have a pancake party. How I would accomplish the latter is currently a mystery, even to me, but it sounds like a fun time.

Other Lenten ideas:
- attend church on Ash Wednesday to receive ashes
- attend mid-week Lenten services at my church
- read & discuss The Road to Coronation as a Lenten bible study

So, is anyone else thinking about the next big holiday? What are you planning for Lent? What sort of Lenten traditions do you observe in your home? I would love to know.