Happy Mother’s Day

The Mother's Day holiday we celebrate in modern times was created by Anna Jarvis as a day for each family to honor their mother. The holiday is celebrated on various days in many countries around the world. This relatively “new” holiday, created at the start of the 20th century and is separate from the early pagan and Christian traditions honoring mothers, or with the 16th century celebration of Mothering Sunday, which is also known as Mother's Day in the UK. In 1912, Anna Jarvis trademarked the phrases "second Sunday in May" and "Mother's Day", and created the Mother's Day International Association. She was specific about the location of the apostrophe; as the original intent of the holiday was for each family to honor their own individual mother, and not just mothers in general. U.S. President Woodrow Wilson used the same spelling in the law making the holiday official. Mother's Day continues to be one of the most commercially successful holidays, especially in the U.S. For example, the National Restaurant Association says that Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the U.S. It is estimated that Americans will spend approximately $2.6 billion on flowers, $1.53 billion on pampering gifts—like spa treatments, and $68 million on greeting cards. Last year, Mother's Day generated about 7.8% of the U.S. jewelry industry's annual revenue with custom gifts like mother's rings.