Why am I chewing on a baby???

I have never really been a fan of Mardi Gras. I have never had the desire to go…ever. Dave use to go all the time. We still have bags of beads in the garage. They come out at every tailgate. I am not sure why. I went to New Orleans for the first time last summer. I was disgusted. And this was on a random day in July. I cannot even imagine how awful it would be during Mardi Gras. We had brunch at a place called Brennan’s. That was delicious. I will give New Orleans credit for good food. But those beignet’s everyone raves about…horrible. It was fried balls of bread covered in powdered sugar. I was not impressed. Now the gumbo, sausages, red beans and rice and bananas foster. That was some good stuff!  I was also pretty impressed with aquarium.  But back to Mardi Gras...

I guess I just don’t get Mardi Gras. You are partying it up for the week leading up to Ash Wednesday and then you are a perfect angel until Easter. Why??? That reminds me of the people who eat anything and everything during the holidays and then diet in exercise in January. Why, people, why? I guess Mardi Gras is just more of a tradition. People from Louisiana are very proud of this tradition. I think it is good to have something like that to be proud of and share with others. But I still don’t get it. I love to see the Mom’s go to their kids class and share this tradition. Although I am curious as to how they explain it in kid’s terms. I just think it is neat that one of our states has something like that and no other states have the same thing. This brings me to my first memory of Mardi Gras.

When I was in the 2^nd grade there was a girl in my class that had just moved to TN from New Orleans. During Mardi Gras her mom came to the class to tell us all about it and bring us king cake. I was 7 so this was the first I had ever heard of Mardi Gras. Well…I got the piece of cake with the baby in it. That stupid thing terrified me. I found it in my mouth and was so confused as to why there was a baby in my mouth. I actually spit it out and tried to hide it. I thought I did something wrong and did not want anyone to see it. But someone noticed and made a big deal out of it. This was traumatizing. I think this is where my dislike for Mardi Gras started.