Today is Mardi Gras, which is French for Fat Tuesday. This is the day where the New Orleans carnival season reaches its climax before moving to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season.

I remember last season and wanting to go down to New Orleans for the parades the weekend before Fat Tuesday. I decided against it, mostly because of anxiety of being in an unfamiliar space with a mass of people. I was unclear on exactly which would be the best parade to attend and how to get to a spot on the route with the street closures and limited parking. Thus, I opted for a local Baton Rouge parade instead. It was cool outside, and the spot I chose had a lot less people than other spots on the route. It was a fun experience, but I KNOW it wasn’t comparable to a ‘Nola Mardi Gras experience.

BUT then just a short time later everything came to a standstill as ‘Nola was one of the places hit hard with COVID-19 and I couldn’t help but be thankful that I opted out of being in those crowds. I figured maybe the next year I would try again…

Well now we’re in that next year and ‘Nola Mayor Toya shut 👏🏾 it 👏🏾 down 👏🏾. She closed bars and even had a press conference with The Big Chiefs asking for the people to not have neighborhood gatherings. BUT the kicker…

It hasn’t been above freezing in a day or two! We got dumped with ice and snow and Louisiana looks like a frozen tundra. Completely ridiculous. If you know anything about southern winters, then you KNOW winter is when the temp flirts with the lower 30s in the evenings right before dawn here or there. It’s definitely NOT multi days of being below freezing and I still can’t believe I see snow outside that didn’t melt in the same day!

So, as I snuggle up on the couch wrapped in a cozy blanket, I’ll sip on my hot cocoa and eat my last slice of king cake until next Carnival season!

—Stassi