Mother's Day greetings

 

When Jarvis initially had the idea for what would become Mother’s Day, she envisioned a nationwide day of remembrance and togetherness, to be observed with visits (if possible) and symbolized by her own mother’s favorite flower: a white carnation. But within decades of organizing the first official Mother’s Day observance in 1908 — and successfully campaigning to get it recognized on a national level in the coming years — she grew unhappy with how the holiday had taken shape across the country.

Jarvis didn’t like greeting cards, calling them a “poor excuse for letters” preferred by “lazy people,” and she believed that candy was a meaningless gesture because “somebody other than the mother usually eats it.”

In 1935, Jarvis even traveled to Washington, D.C., to admonish the postmaster general for the release of commemorative Mother’s Day stamps, calling it “sheer commercialization,” according to the Post-Dispatch article.

So how did Jarvis — who wasn’t a fan of candy, cards or even commemorative stamps — expect the nation to celebrate its mothers? Well, by going to visit her — or sending her a long, handwritten letter.

“She said, you know, if really want to do something for your mother … If you could go see her, you really should do that,” said Olive Ricketts, director of the Anna Jarvis Museum, in a 2016 interview with NPR. “But she said the second-best thing is to write her a long, handwritten letter. Don’t use other people’s words to tell your mother how you feel because they don’t really know how you feel about your mother.”