Presidents Day

Ellery planting her "cherry tree" by the flag.

The honor and safety of our bleeding country, and every other motive that can influence the brave and heroic patriot, call loudly upon us, to acquit ourselves with spirit. In short, we must now determine to be enslaved or free. If we make freedom our choice we must obtain it by the blessing of Heaven on our united and vigorous efforts.

George Washington, August 8, 1776
as quoted in "An Enemy Hath Done This." Ezra Taft Benson

Truly God blessed and consecrated this great nation we live in today. I am inspired by the fortitude and largess of our Founding Fathers. I fear we are drifting, and lately speeding, too far from the principles upon which our country was founded. We are turning from the God which granted us this land and our freedoms.

Speaking of our freedoms, Thomas Jefferson said the following in his First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1801 (as quoted in "The Elders of Israel and the Constitution" Jerome Horowitz),

With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow citizens -- a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.

Reagan, the Bushes, Clinton, Obama...I don't think frugal is a word we could use to describe these governments. It seems the bread we earn is taken, not just by taxes but through exorbitant government spending and the resulting inescapable burden of inflation.

So today, in our home, we honored those Presidents who fought and consecrated their lives to building not a democracy but a Constitutional Republic.

The girls and I enjoyed making "Cherry Trees" with twigs and cranberries to remind us of the honest young Washington who used his little hatchet to whack off all the bark from his father's prized tree. (Having a boy, I can just imagine how this went down!) When approached by his father, of course he fessed up his misdeeds.

Callista and Ellery especially loved singing some songs I found on the internet...

Their favorite chorus by far, sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle,

Georgie, Georgie, no, no, no.
Be careful what you do.
Hatchets can be dangerous
And you might get hurt too!

I'm pretty certain it was the "Georgies" and "no, no, no's" they loved.

We also sorted coins and tried to make crayon rubbings, but they weren't that spectacular. They were very cute in their "3 Cornered Hats" however!