Happy Birthday George Washington!

Looking good for 284 years old!

Today our country celebrates George Washington's Birthday.  Washington's actual birthday was Feb. 22 but since 1971, the holiday has been celebrated on the third Monday of February.  Many people call this day "President's Day" but as I remind the school every year, there is no such holiday!  Washington's Birthday was a federal holiday beginning in 1879 but in 1971, Congress moved the observance of the holiday to the third Monday in February.  If you are a nerd like me, you can read about the confusion in a great article here.













To mark today's holiday, our opening prayer was an excerpt from Washington's 1796 Farewell Address in which he announced he would not seek a third term as president.  In addition, during lunch we gave our birthday cake to the students.

Here is the excerpt we read for today's prayer:

I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it....