All about Mother's day Celebration. How do you celebrate Mother's day?

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mother’s to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers. With the following, she called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood. This celebration was not really celebrated yearly, but Howe had nevertheless planted the seed that would blossom into what we know as Mother’s Day today. A West Virginia women’s group led by Anna Reeves Jarvis began to celebrate an adaptation of Howe’s holiday. In order to re-unite families and neighbors that had been divided between the Union and Confederate sides of the Civil War, the group held a Mother’s Friendship Day. After Anna Reeves Jarvis died, her daughter Anna M. Jarvis campaigned for the creation of an official Mother’s Day in remembrance of her mother and in honor of peace. In 1908, Anna petitioned the superintendent of the church where her Mother had spent over 20 years teaching Sunday School. Her request was honored, and on May 10, 1908, the first official Mother's Day celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia and a church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The West Virginia event drew a congregation of 407 and Anna Jarvis arranged for white carnations—her Mother’s favorite flower—to adorn the patrons. Two carnations were given to every Mother in attendance. Today, white carnations are used to honor deceased Mothers, while pink or red carnations pay tribute to Mothers who are still alive. Andrew's Methodist Church exists to this day, and was incorporated into the International Mother’s Day Shrine in 1962.By the time of Anna M. Jarvis's death, over 40 countries observed the Mother’s Day, and today that number exceeds 70.

Today, there are so many ways of celebrating Mother's Day. Most families reserve Mother's Day brunch at famous restaurants or even organize family "get-to-gethers" to celebrate this event.

**The National Retail Foundation estimates that Mother's Day is a $16 Billion industry. **Google Trends shows a sharp spike in search traffic for Mother's Day on Mother's Day in the US and UK and the month leading up to it. **Florists see their highest sales in May. **US restaurants claim that it is the busiest day of the year. **Long distance telephone calls also peak on this day. **The US Postal Service experiences increased volume during the surrounding days.

**According to Hallmark (via About.com), 96% of American consumers take part in shopping on Mother's Day, while retailers report it as the second highest gift giving day of the year behind Christmas. http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/

In my own home, we always go to the botanical garden on mother's day because I always love gardens. When the kids were growing up in New York, we go to the Botanical Garden in the Bronx or in Brooklyn. Nowadays, we go to the Norfolk Botanical Garden or to Maymont.But we do not leave the house with empty stomachs.

Sunday brunches are very important in our home. Since I always leave early for church with the girls on Sabbath mornings, my husband just help himself to a bowl of cereal or oats on Saturday mornings. To compensate, I always make it a point to make a special Sunday brunch for everyone. But on Mother's Day Sunday, Helmut and the girls will wake up early to make a special breakfast for me. Although I am usually awake by then, I just pretend to sleep still. He always makes the same yummylicious cheesy souffle-omelet and a bowl of fresh fruits such as strawberries or mixed berries. When the girls grew up, they took charge of the kitchen decorating it with style, but Helmut still makes the same souffle-omelet until Kristina turned vegan. Now there are fruit tarts, quiches and frittatas of all sorts.Here is one simple strawberry tart you can make this Sunday...

Strawberry Tart Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Makes 6-8 servings. Ingredients 1sheet of puff pastry, approximately 12x12" (I don't make puff pastry from scratch, so I used a Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheet.) 16 ounces, weight strawberries, sliced 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 3 tablespoons honey Instructions Preheat oven to 375°F. Lay puff pastry on parchment lined baking sheet. Turn up edges all the way around. Spread sliced strawberry evenly across puff pastry. Whisk together balsamic vinegar and honey. Brush tops of of strawberries with mixture. You will probably have a little extra balsamic vinegar/honey leftover. Bake at 375°F for about 25 minutes or until pastry is slightly browned. Serve while still warm. Top with favorite whipped topping. HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, ladies! Wherever and however you spent this day, enjoy every moment with your mothers, children, family and friends.

Edwin Hubbell Chapin once said, "No language can express the power, and beauty, and heroism, and majesty of a mother's love. It shrinks not where man cowers, and grows stronger where man faints, and over wastes of worldly fortunes sends the radiance of its quenchless fidelity like a star".