You gotta love this country.

The USA, that is.

Yes, I love Mexico too. Been there three times: a long weekend in Mexico City, a week of English teaching in Guanajuato (one of the world's loveliest college towns), a drive through the Yucatan, from Merida to Cancun (where all the students in Guanajuato dreamed of spending their vacations).

But back to the U.S. What other country takes the holidays of its immigrants and turns them into grand celebrations? Not just that, we take holidays that are pretty subdued in their countries of origin and make them all-inclusive parties.

St. Patrick's Day was always a sober day of church-going in Ireland, just as Cinco de Mayo is marked mainly in Pueblo, the town where the Mexicans successfully defeated the French.

Our embrace not just of immigrants but their holidays is admirable, but there's so much more that we can do. Why have we overlooked the English, and their St. George's Day on April 23? We have a lot of people of Polish background, and we completely ignore Polish Constitution Day on May 3. And with all the Cubans in South Florida, isn't it time we started celebrating Jose Marti's birthday January 28?

What are some others? Help me out here. With all our diversity, we should be partying - I mean, honoring the proud histories of our many peoples - every week.