You might say my grandfather disliked Valentine's Day:
"It's just another excuse to give my hard-earned money to Hallmark!"
"I love you so, here, have some sugary junk to rot your teeth! I don't get it!"
"It's the Black Friday for florists!"
In fact, Grandpa railed against the day so much (or what it had turned into) that he decided, years ago, to create his own holiday to better express his love for his family (while running some errands at the same time)... and thus Cheesentine's Day was born!
Although the first Cheesentine's Day happened the weekend before Valentine's Day, it was never meant to be held on any particular day of the year; Grandpa's holiday appeared randomly whenever he was in an extra-festive mood (or we were low on Muenster and/or the garage needed cleaning out).
Regardless of when Cheesentine's Day occurred, it always began in a traditional way... during breakfast while my grandfather was reading the morning paper at the kitchen table (presumably looking at the Penn Dutch Meats or other local deli ads): He would stand from the table and make one of his typical Cheesentine's proclamations:
"It's brick-ginning to a lot like Cheesentine's Day!"
"Legen-Dairy love is in the air!"
"Time for another feta-tastic holiday!"
He'd then pull out the family's ceremonial cheese grater, set it on the table, and we'd take turns decorating it before moving onto the rest of the day's ceremonies (which usually included shopping/wrapping various cheeses and meats in butcher paper and then mysteriously, rounding up a bunch of old paper towel rolls, margarine containers, and old newspapers out his garage for recycling...?)
This revered family holiday went on for many years until, sadly, my grandfather passed away and the cheese grater was believed to have been accidentally tossed out by my grandmother in the process. INCREDIBLY, however, the famous (infamous) cheese grater was recently rediscovered and we're are pleased to now be able to bring this long-lost holiday family tradition to the local geocaching community!
Like so many Cheesentine's Days before it, this event will feature three major holiday rituals:
The Brickening (sometimes referred to as "the bickering")- Come and decorate the festive holiday cheese grater, by adorning it with colorful bison tubes. Each tube will contain a special number retrieved by their decorator as they hang it on the grater. At the conclusion of the Brickening, one lucky person's number will be selected and they will win a brick of cheddar. Four others will win bison tubes for their future caching endeavors.
The Grate Purge (For Luck. AKA let's clean out the garage) - What does cleaning up have to do with cheese? As my grandfather would say, "Not a damned thing! My holiday, my rules!" Overseen by the cheesiest knick-knack "Patron Saint of Recycling" we can find at the house (thanks to my sister-in-law, this year's choice will be rather obvious), bring one or more small-ish cache containers (or containers that can be turned INTO cache containers quickly/easily) and deposit them in the ceremonial box/bag to, allegedly, increase your good fortune in the coming months)! From personal experience, the luck always seemed to be somewhat real although it was never over the top for me... That said, If you're looking for a C- on a chemistry test, trying to clear your acne up a day or two earlier than normal, or shave $.63 off of your next auto insurance renewal, it might be worth a try!
Parting of the Wheys - Traditionally, the great holiday would conclude when Grandpa passed around two deceptively wrapped coins to be examined by the participants (who helped clean the garage) using their sense of touch (and occasionally hearing). Using rock, scissors, paper-style elimination, each coin would then be offered (still sight unseen) to an individual with the given choices to "accept" a coin handed to them or "pass" the coin on to the next person for consideration.
Once both coins had been accepted, they would be unwrapped by their respective receivers and revealed for all to see. One coin would be a "winner" (usually a silver dollar) while the other coin would be a lead "slug". The "winner" got to keep the coin as a Cheesentine's gift, while the "slug" had to take the items gathered from the Grate Purge and "find a home for them" (e.g. giving them to a person in need, taking them to the trash/recycling center -- *anywhere* except back into his house/garage!)
For geocaching purposes, the Parting of the Wheys ceremony will be slightly different -- The participants will be among those who donated cache containers. The "winner" coin will be a *gold 2017 Geocaching Colorado geocoin*, while the "slug" will be a different geocoin. The "slug" can choose to keep the donated containers and use them for their own placements or redistribute them to their fellow cachers who need/want some free containers, recycle them, etc. The only rule is that ALL OF THE CONTAINERS MUST BE REMOVED FROM THE PREMISES WHEN THE HOLIDAY CONCLUDES.
We hope you will be able to join us as we extend this honored family tradition (and cleanup opportunity) to our local geocaching community!