Search Results for: blog in honor of memorial day

Ways for Kids to Celebrate Flag Day

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Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14. It is a holiday that was designed specifically to honor the American Flag. How much do you know about the history of this holiday? Here is a quick review of the history of Flag Day, and some suggestions about how children can celebrate it. The first Flag Day occurred in 1885. BJ Cigrand, who was a schoolteacher, was the first to get it started. This teacher arranged for the students in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 as “Flag Birthday”. The date was selected because it … Continue reading →

World Humanitarian Day

Today was World Humanitarian Day. August 19th was designated as World Humanitarian Day by the United Nations (U.N.). It is a day to remember humanitarians all over the world who have lost their lives while working for humanitarian causes. Think of it as Memorial Day for humanitarians. Why August 19th? Because it was on August 19, 2003 when U.N. Special Representative in Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello from Brazil and twenty-one others were killed in the bombing of the U.N. Headquarters in Baghdad. Vieira de Mello dedicated over thirty years of his life to humanitarian causes. As a celebration of … Continue reading →

Green up Your Memorial Day

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Memorial Day is a day to honor all those that have served in the military. It is also a day when a lot of people will have family and friends over and grill out. (This image is from MorgueFile.) But, you can still be green while doing all of this. If you are going to visit a loved one’s grave, take real flowers. I know a lot of people tend to purchase plastic flowers because they last longer, but real flowers will naturally decompose, whereas plastic flowers will eventually have to be removed by the groundskeepers and who knows when … Continue reading →

Memorable Memorial Day Layouts

For most people, the long Memorial Day weekend means picnics, road trips and beach time with friends and family. While cookouts and camaraderie are memorable components of the holiday, the real reason for the three-day weekend has to do with hard work and heroes. Thanks to the men and women, who comprise this country’s military, we are able to enjoy a litany of freedoms. Their selflessness and bravery should be honored, and there’s no better way to do so than with a scrapbook layout or an entire memory album. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an advanced scrapper to design … Continue reading →

Fifteen Days of Free Access at Ancestry.com

Ancestry.com is one of the most popular genealogy websites. I often wonder if this has something to do with how often they offer free access to certain parts of their collections. Right now, they are giving away fifteen days of free access. Every so often, Ancestry.com gives genealogists free access to some of the collections that are usually only available to people who have become members, and who are paying a membership fee. Typically, they will make a specific collection, (or group of related collections), free for a few days, or for a weekend. Usually, the website chooses collections that … Continue reading →

Martin Luther King Honored in D.C.

Few have worked so hard and sacrificed so much for social consciousness as Martin Luther King Jr. We’ve given him a holiday, many cities have streets named after him, and Memphis has a Civil Rights museum honoring him on the site where he was assassinated. Finally, King became the first individual who wasn’t a president to receive a monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The $120 million dollar monument set on 4 acres near the Tidal Basin officially opens tomorrow and will be dedicated on August 28th. The opening comes on the 48th anniversary of King’s historic “I … Continue reading →

In Honor of Memorial Day

Although there is much dispute over the exact location of the first Memorial Day celebration, it is commonly said that Memorial Day (formerly called Decoration Day) was first celebrated on May 30, 1868. In a fitting tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War, a large group of people gathered in Arlington National Cemetery. They listened to speeches, they prayed and sang hymns, and they walked through the cemetery decorating the graves with flowers. Many years have passed since that first Memorial Day, and while we still decorate graves and sing and pray, we have found … Continue reading →

Where to Find the Memorial Day Sales – 2011

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The three day Memorial Day weekend is one that many people think of as the unofficial start of Summer. This is the weekend to decorate the graves of soldiers with American flags, as a way to honor them, and to recognize them for serving their country. For people who love to shop, Memorial Day weekend is the time when a lot of stores have awesome sales. Here is a quick list of where to find the deals this Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day is one of the holiday weekends when stores have big sales. Since Memorial Day itself will officially … Continue reading →

Remember Your Ancestors On Memorial Day

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Memorial Day was once called Decoration Day. One of the ways to celebrate Memorial Day is to visit a graveyard, and decorate the graves of your ancestors who were in the military. This gives a genealogist the opportunity to record the information that is found on their gravestones. If you are unable to travel to a cemetery on Memorial Day weekend, you might still be able to obtain the information on a grave from an online resource. If you are visiting a cemetery this Memorial Day weekend, it is traditional to decorate the graves of your ancestors who served in … Continue reading →

Memorial Day Celebrations

If you are planning a trip to visit family this Memorial Day, why not attend a Memorial Day parade or other activity in the local area that you will be visiting. Local communities offer many unique ways to remember those who gave their lives for our country. You may be surprised by what you find when you look into what activities are planned for the place that you are visiting. For example, today I learned about a Memorial Day event that is scheduled for my local community which really took me by surprise. The event is being held in honor … Continue reading →