Groundhog Day Fun

picture source

We have a silly family tradition of celebrating Groundhog Day. Mark is from Pennsylvania and a weather buff, so it just kind of developed into a fun day for us. One year David went to school all excited that it was Groundhog Day and came home disappointed that nobody in his class knew or cared about this fun family day. Our poor disillusioned child thought everyone celebrated Groundhog day.

I don't know if there are any other crazy families out there that celebrate this silly holiday, but if you do or if you want to surprise your family, I thought I would give you some ideas that we have done over the years. Most of our "celebrating" is centered around a fun dinner or dessert.

The following pictures are not mine. For the original source and how-to directions, click on the picture.

I made these cupcakes pictured to the left for our first year of officially celebrating Groundhog Day. They turned our really cute.

I taught the kids a song I found on the internet and we sang it for Mark when he came home for dinner. I couldn't find the original source. It was several years ago that I found it. The song is sung to the tune of "Jesus Loves Me." (I know it seems rather trivial to sing these words to this tune, but Mark assures me that tunes aren't sacred.)

Spring is coming this I know. For the groundhog tells me so. The snow is deep and it's ten below, but he did not see his shadow. Yes, spring is coming. Yes, spring is coming. Yes, spring is coming. The groundhog tells me so.

I haven't made the cupcakes below, but thought they were a really cute idea too.

I have also made theme meals. One of our favorites was cutting sliced "fried" ham in the shape of a groundhog. I stood him up by propping him against some spread out mashed potatoes (shadow), and piled french cut green beans around the groundhog for the grass around his hole. I'm sorry I don't have a picture, but hopefully you get the idea.

Tomorrow, I want to try this with my meatloaf. I'll probably use green beans instead of the slaw used in this picture. I don't know, I may have a hard time eating something this alive looking! I know my boys will love it.

Below is my effort at shaping the meatloaf. It is in the refrigerator and ready to put into the oven tomorrow when I get home from teaching. I'm hoping the silicone mat will help make it easy to transport onto a serving plate. If not, I will just serve it with the green beans on the baking pan.

When the kids were younger, we made fun crafts of groundhogs seeing their shadows. You can find a lot of ideas from google images. 

I hope I have inspired you to have fun on this silly holiday. It's a nice way to break up the long end of winter, although I must admit that we have been enjoying some spring like weather lately. Maybe Phil will predict an early spring.