My Traditional Easter Holiday

When you hear the phrase, ‘traditional Easter holiday’, what type of thoughts come to mind? Generally I flash back to my childhood days. I remember coloring eggs and placing them in my cherished Easter basket. When I was growing up we did not get a new basket each year. Instead, my brothers, sister and I each had our own basket that we treasured, and used over and over again. I remember that the boys’ baskets were bigger and bulkier looking. Mine and my sister’s were smaller and pastel in color, and had a more delicate appearance.

For my siblings and me, decorating our baskets and coloring the Easter eggs was an important event. We always ended the evening by writing a letter to The Easter Bunny. It’s funny though, I really don’t remember if we planned to mail those letters or what – I just remember that writing them was important and it was fun. I also remember that some Easter mornings we would find that The Easter Bunny had actually left us a note. That was always special.

Easter morning for us kids would always start early. It was a lot like Christmas – only our parents did not bother to get up early with us. Instead we would happily carry our baskets into their room to show them our goodies.

Easter Sunday always meant a large breakfast, followed by church, and then Sunday Dinner. Some years dinner was a family event, held at my grandma’s house. And other years we would simply eat at home. But every year included an Easter egg hunt and eating too much candy.

When raising my own children we had our personalized traditions. Of course, we did the usual things like coloring eggs, writing letters to The Easter Bunny, and having Easter egg hunts. But our main event was a trip to the zoo on Easter Sunday. My children have continued this tradition with their own kids.

Now that I am a grandma Easter has a different spin. I treasure all holidays because they offer an opportunity to spend quality time with the ones I love the most. To me, aside from the true foundations of holidays, that is why they are important and meaningful.

This Easter will include observance of religious significance of the day, followed by family time. I will prepare a ‘traditional’ Easter Sunday Dinner. We’ll all eat too much. The kids will run and play. And by the end of the day I will be tired but feeling blessed and grateful. It will be a good day!