Family day, or no family day?

18 Feb, 2008

Family day, or no family day?

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life

Raise your hands if you live in the province of Ontario and the whole family is actually together today.

Like many, Mark is at work today. I’m at home.

I was talking to a mom in the schoolyard about it last week. She made a very important point:

“And the liquor stores aren’t even open!”

I’m no big fan of Dalton, and I knew, as soon as I heard talk of “Family Day,” that it was one of those GIFTS that politicians like to think they are giving us. Clearly it wasn’t thought out. And clearly he didn’t realize what a huge backlash it was going to create.

Thankfully, it’s sunny outside. And the snow is more melty than dry. Perfect for building a snow fort, don’t you think?

7 Responses to "Family day, or no family day?"

1 | Mar

February 18th, 2008 at 9:29 am

I’m with you. Hubby is lucky enough to work for the fed gov’t and so is plugging away at work today. What a family day! LOL…

2 | J.

February 18th, 2008 at 9:45 am

I’m at work today.. i guess the good thing about family day is that there is less traffic on the roads on the way to work this morning…

3 | mrsgryphon

February 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am

I’ve lived in Alberta for the last 5 years, and when we first moved here, we didn’t have any kids so Family Day was just a bonus day off in the middle of the dreary winter! Fun! We went skating, or took off to the mountains for the long weekend, or just hung out at home with a book and some board games.

Now, though, we both work at jobs with strange schedules and have a 2 yo daughter… who is playing with her Aunt and Uncle today while we work (at least SOMEONE is getting a “family day”!)

I have to say, though, that if you are in a position to take advantage of the day off, it’s nice to have that break in the middle of the long winter – if we had planned our schedules a bit better this year, it could have been US taking the Bean to the Science Centre this morning instead of her Aunt and Uncle. Maybe next year!

4 | Chantal

February 18th, 2008 at 12:13 pm

Any holiday is a good holiday as far as I am concerned and honestly I am glad all the stores are closed. If they weren’t I would be there doing groceries. Maybe calling it Family Day was a bit presumptuous for Dalton but really, people have been begging for a February holiday for years. I have two friends (a married couple with 2 kids) who both work retail, both managers. And they can’t always manage to have a day off together. It is nice to know that there is one more day they can be sure to spend together as a family.

5 | JoAnn

February 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Family Day ….. hmm, not to start an uproar or anything but isn’t that kind of what the Lord had planned for every Sunday, until man/woman decided that we needed to have access to retail stores, including liquor stores, 7 days a week?
Like others both my husband and I are working today… but maybe that will change next year.

6 | andrea

February 18th, 2008 at 4:16 pm

Well JoAnn, I have to say I agree with you. (Albeit as an agnostic!) I don’t think we need retail available to us 24/7. And I agree that we all could all probably spend more time together as a family.

I feel a twee bit sad for the folks who can’t find something fun to do on a day when everything’s closed.

7 | porter

February 18th, 2008 at 10:11 pm

My feelings are similar to JoAnn’s…I wish that everything was closed on Sunday like it used to be. Of course there were alot of people who still had to work Sundays (my Dad used to have to) but at least when he was off it was really a day of rest.

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