It's Carnival Time!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is my favorite time of year. I love everything surrounding carnival season. I love how the purple, green and gold colors start creeping out onto porches and flag poles. 

I love how Christmas garlands and wreaths are infiltrated with the colors of Mardi Gras to transform them into Fat Tuesday decorations. I love that south Louisiana starts preparing for the upcoming season before Christmas is even over. 

I love king cakes (and babies). I love that my Parrain and his family send us a king cake every year. I look forward to the day I find that delicious little package sitting on our doorstep each year. I love that inside the box each year I find the simple inscription "here's the cake here's the baby, you know what to do". 

I love Mardi Gras balls.

I love NOLA parades, glass beads and "throw me somethin' mista!"

I love second lining, "Mardi Gras Mambo" and "They All Asked For You". 

I love the Krewe of Pontchartrain, NOLA, huge crowds on Canal St., and the Neutral Ground side.

I love the Krewe balcony party at Johnny White's, char-grilled oysters at Dragos, Beer Fest with great friends and family and bloody marys for breakfast.

I love all these things, yet miss them tremendously living in a state where not only do you NOT get off even one day for Mardi Gras, but most people here haven't even heard of Twelfth Night and start asking you "when does Mardi Gras start?" halfway through January. When you explain that Mardi Gras has already started on the Epiphany (January 6), they look at you puzzled until you explain. 

This time of year, more than any other time, I miss my home state. You may remember my post regarding my favorite "real holiday" here. Well, Mardi Gras is my favorite holiday of all time, hands down, and always has been.

My family and I have always been huge fans of Fat Tuesday. As a child, we would dress up to attend the parades in our home town. As I got a little older we would go to Vegas each year and deck ourselves out in our best purple green and gold on Mardi Gras Day to give out beads to anyone within arms distance from us. We would attend the MGD parades in our home town of New Roads (and I mean BOTH parades, if you're from there, you know what I mean!) We would even go down to NOLA, usually the weekend before Mardi Gras, to catch some of the parades. Our cousin David rode in De'tat for years the Sunday before Mardi Gras and we would pack up and head down there to partake in the festivities.

Six years ago, we rode in the Krewe of Pontchartrain for the first time, and we were hooked. This was the first year we haven't been able to ride (secondary to work obligations...boo...) and we were SO sad, but we will be back next year!

So pour you a good ole cup of community coffee, cut you a slice of King Cake and take in this Mardi Gras season, wherever you may be. If you're where we are, we will be at Floyd's for beer and crawfish on Fat Tuesday. (I'll be the one in the purple green and gold polo). If you're back home, live it up for us, and we will see you next year!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!