What are you doing for Mardis Gras?

Mardis Gras is french for "Fat Tuesday" meaning the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is this Wednesday and is the start of Lent.  On Ash Wednesday we are reminded of the mortality of our earthly bodies - our bodies will eventually return to the earth from whence they came.  Our Souls are another matter.  At the end of our earthly existence we are moving to a new home for eternity, Heaven (possibly by way of Purgatory) or Hell.  And so Ash Wednesday begins a season of preparation for celebrating Easter - the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We spend this time of Lent doing Pennance for our sins.  Most of us execute that Pennance by fasting from a worldly pleasure.  As a kid it was always candy.  As an adult it has been coffee, snacks, dessert, candy, fast food, beer, and other things.  I think that it is human nature that if we know that we are going to fast from something for 7 1/2 weeks we want to indulge in it one last time.  That indulgence is the celbration of Mardis Gras.

Mardis Gras is not a time to commit sins of the flesh.  It is a time to partake and enjoy one last time (and for most of us it seems, to excess) our pleasure that we will be fasting and abstaining from for the next 7 1/2 weeks.

So, what are your plans for Mardis Gras?