Where did all these holidays come from?

I was looking at my calendar today counting holidays. America has way too many meaningless holidays.

Presidents day;
Labor day;
Thanksgiving;
Valentines Day;
Mothers day;
Fathers day;
Memorial day;
Halloween;
Christmas;
and Easter;
(there's more, but I'll spare you the rest)

Now I know what some readers are saying. "These are important holidays. What kind of feeling less wretch are you?"

Really? lets go down the list.

President's Day: first, who decided that Washington and Lincoln were the greatest things since Swiss cheese. Washington was an important man, but he made many mistakes (like signing a treaty written in French, which he didn't understand), and Lincoln, well.. if you believe the history books he is the greatest thing since Swiss cheese.

Labor Day: To this day I have no idea what labor day is about

Thanksgiving: is this not what we are supposed to do at every meal. why do I need a special holiday to thank God for what he gives me. This should be every day, every hour.

Valentines Day: OK, if you need a holiday to tell you to send your girl some flowers or tell her you love her, than you need more than a holiday, you need to rethink your relationship.

Mothers Day: how can I possibly be against Mothers day? well if you need a holiday to call your mother and tell her you love her, than you don't need a holiday, you need to start calling your mother on a regular basis and mending the relationship. Same thing for Fathers day.

These holidays actually ensure the important people in your life get less noticed. How you say? Well since we have 'Holidays' we don't need to put forth our own effort to decide when to call Mom and say hi, or call Dad, or tell the wife how much she means to you. We have holidays for that. isn't it great.

Moving on
Memorial Day: I'm a Navy Vet and I certainly have an appreciation for the men who have died in the military. And if Memorial day was actually about remembering and honoring our fallen sons, fathers, husbands and such, it might be worthy of a holiday, but it isn't. It's a facade put on by people who don't give a rats ass about our boys who have died. Because if they did give a rats ass about our sons they would stop sending them to die in meaningless wars. It looks good on TV though.

Halloween: Hmmm... Reformation Day has long been forgotten but for some reason we have no problem with ghosts, gobblins and more sugar than a kid needs in a lifetime all in one night.

Christmas and Easter: Santa Clause and the Easter bunny. Perfectly good reasons to lie to your children. I'm certainly not against remember Christ's birth or his resurrection. It's the facade of celebrating a bunny and a jolly old man which make these holidays absurd.

In short, the majority of American holidays are nothing more than commercialized obligations, and if you don't participate, your are scrooge, unpatriotic, your dad disowns you, your mom hates you, and your wife won't touch you with a ten foot pole.

On a brighter note, all the money we spend on these holidays boosts the economy.