Easter

Easter is a rather convoluted holiday in the 21st century. For some it is considered the most important Christian event of the year, commemorating sacrifice and salvation. For kids it is a secular holiday where bunnies hop through the front door with thier baskets, and leave eggs behind. For many adults it is a reason to share a meal with family, and eat chocolate.

For some Christians Easter was not celebrated last weekend. I found this out as I prepared to organize kids’ Easter books on the table at my local food bank. Someone reminded me that our regular clients are largely Ukrainian and their Easter is not until later in the Spring. I quickly sorted out the books into 2 piles – one with stories about bunnies for the display, and another with egg themes which I put away until May 5th.

This year our family decided on brunch for our Easter gathering. The timing worked best for some guests recovering from jet lag after a recent trip, and for others who had to work on Monday. It also worked best for Peter and me because we like to have our nap around 4:00 pm. Brunch food is easier too: mimosas followed by pre-cooked ham from COSTCO and quiche from a bakery. Peter wanted to have pannetone, which is an Italian tradition, but we couldn’t find any and had to settle for hot cross buns. He declared them unworthy and ate chocolate instead.

After brunch we sent the kids on a trickier and longer version of an Easter egg hunt. They had to find various household items, which they then traded in for Easter eggs. They could not find our tooth paste and decided we must have very dirty teeth. The adults didn’t get off lightly – we had to play a modern version of trivial pursuit for our eggs. Did you know that the name for a large group of pandas is an “embarrassment”?

Around 4 pm, after everyone had gone home, I gave up my nap just for you, dear readers. I went for a walk around the neighbourhood to see how other celebrations were going. Compared to Hallowe’en and Christmas, the decorations were pathetic:

There were large groups of cars in lots of driveways. The name for that group is not an “embarrassment” – it’s a party! Relatives were gathering on their front lawns to re-connect. “Wow, Amy, how you’ve grown since Christmas.” “Look at Joshua catch that ball now -he’s heading for the big leagues for sure.” “Marianne, I just love your new hair colour!” And so on.

A one-sided conversation caught my attention. An eldery man arrived at a house in a taxi. He got out of the car with his suitcase and was greeted by the family dog sitting alone on the porch. He stooped down. “Oh my little poochie poo, how are you? You’re Grandad’s most favourite little cutie-pie in the whole world, yes you are! I’m so happy to see you, my sweetie face. Give Grandad a kissy kissy!”

He obviously didn’t realize anybody else was listening to him. And he definitely didn’t know that, in a couple of days, he would be quoted on a public blog.

Sue