Mardi Gras and Lent

I always try to have a cheerful greeting for clients when I first greet them in the Waiting Area. For the past several weeks, I’ve been wishing everyone a “Happy Mardi Gras!”
 
I did some of my growing up in New York, and they do celebrate Mardi Gras there, at least in some places.
 
Now, most people mistakenly believe that Mardi Gras only occurs on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. But that’s not so. Mardi Gras is a celebration that starts weeks earlier.
 
In New Orleans family-friendly parades go through different parts of the city for weeks before that Tuesday, known as “Fat Tuesday.” The parades are lead by “Krews” of people who plan them months in advance. The culmination of the holiday is the parade of the Rex Krew through the French Quarter on Fat Tuesday. The Rex Parade is the one everyone thinks about when they think about Mardi Gras, and it’s decidedly not a family-friendly parade.
 
Mardi Gras has always been a holiday I enjoy, and a couple of years ago I decided to make it a part of my household celebrations. I mean let’s face it, the bleak winter months in Chicago need all the help they can get. For a couple of weeks before Fat Tuesday I put strands of Mardi Gras “throws,” or beads, over the Flaming Chalice lamp on my dining room table, and I cook in the New Orleans style. On Fat Tuesday I put out some special theme treats in the Waiting Area for clients.
 
It’s fun. So far no clients have tied to “flash” me and my New Orleans cooking (heavily influenced these days by chef Emeril Lagasse) is getting better and better.
 
But Mardi Gras 2011 is now over, and it is the penitential season of Lent. While I’m looking forward to Easter and the joy of Spring, the passing of Mardi Gras makes things seem dreary.
 
And I can’t figure out an appropriate greeting for clients when I meet them. “Happy Madi Gras!” is fun, but there’s something wrong with “Happy Lent!” and I don’t think adding “May your suffering go well” would help. It’s a puzzle.