Before my mom and Aunt Dolly headed back to New York on Monday, like most we celebrated Easter the day before.

Despite my love of being in the kitchen and cooking, my mom was on her own with the celebratory meal. A nasty head cold kept me in a medicine-induced coma nearly all day.

My mom made the usual for the meal, Easter ham, along with a cauliflower mash (in place of mashed potatoes) and succotash.

While I’m not one to turn down my mom’s cooking at anytime, she knows I’m not a fan of ham. I can’t give a reason for my dislike of the meat, but it’s always been that way. But if my mom makes it, I eat it albeit with long teeth.

The notion of having to eat ham got me pondering exactly why it is the traditional meat on Easter for so many of us.

A search on the Internet yielded several answers, but one of the most logical ones was from a news article that notes Jewish Passover traditions call for lamb as does many European traditions. However, in northern Europe swine were always important. Pigs were slaughtered in the winter and the hams from them were salted, smoked and ready to eat in the spring–before fresh meats were available.

The same is reflected in North America where lamb is a less popular meat.

While I recognize the importance of the Easter holiday, in my head cold frenzy these last few days my simple Internet search has led me down the road to other, perhaps, frivolous holidays.

National Doughnut Day, Friendship Day, Waffle Iron Day—we’ve all heard of at least one crazy holiday.

And if you’re looking to incorporate a holiday each day of your life you can do so since there is one nearly every day of the year.

For instance, on August 6 you can celebrate Wiggle Your Toes Day and on the 18^th of the same month you can recognize Bad Poetry Day. (I’m sure I can dig up a few “good” bad poems from 8^th grade for that one.)

If you have a more adventurous spirit you could always take part in Dare Day on June 1, which challenges people to get in touch with their daredevil side. And the very next day you could send your neighbor Bubba some flowers to honor National Bubba Day for those people bearing the name.

Iced Tea Day on June 10 should probably be a national holiday for Southerners whereas Bald and Free Day (Oct. 7) are for those that are follically challenged.

April has several interesting holidays on tap like, Rubber Eraser Day on April 15, Ex Spouse Day on April 14 and Eight Track Tape Day (for those who remember them) April 11.

If none of those have caught your attention there’s always Blah, Blah, Blah Day (April 17), which aims to encourage people to complete those tasks they haven’t gotten around too. And there’s always Sorry Charlie Day (April 6) that lets us reflect on those times we have been rejected or spurned by someone.

But of all the wacky holidays the month of April has to offer, I think my favorite is Hug a Newsman Day celebrated today (April 4), which encourages people to show a little love to their media personnel.

Amanda VanDerBroek is a Staff Writer for the Roanoke-Chowan News-Herald. For comments and column suggestions email: amanda.vanderbroek@r-cnews.com or call (252) 332-7209.