I am slightly home sick as I sit at work on this Easter Sunday.
I guess I haven't had a traditional easter in many years, I always had to work that weekend during college, but when I think of Easter, I still think about the way it was when I was younger. That's also the benefit of having a younger sibling. Those traditions that you are supposed to be 'too cool for' as you get older, are still ok to do when you have a little kid around.
My little sister had a kids songs holiday tape when she was little. I always get the songs from the respective holidays stuck in my head whenever they come around. Hence the title of this post.
If I were home, at my mom's house that is, and it were 5 or 6 years ago, well... I guess I would still be sleeping. But in a few hours I would wake up, or my little sister would wake me up, to look for our easter baskets, maybe we would even play the aformentioned song for inspiration. Having discovered our treasures, we would get ready and go to church, the Easter service was always a good one, and then head to a relatives for Easter dinner. The whole family would gather, all bringing some part of the traditional feast. My family would always bring jello (jelly for the rest of the world) jigglers, which are really fun to make, but personally, I think they are gross to eat. In the last few years we got really fancy and would make those 3D egg shaped ones. Ok, I guess those aren't exactly traditional, but a tradition in my family. :)
I was often in charge of the easter egg hunt, as I am the oldest girl on every side of my family, and the boys weren't very much help. I would go retrieve the plastic eggs that my mother and I had spent hours stuffing with candy and treats, and hide them around the yard. Most of them you had to put in fairly obvious places at ground level for the very small children, but it was fun to get creative with a few of them, make it a little more challenging for the older ones. We always worked out the number of eggs so each cousin would get 10 or 12 or some equal number depending on how ambitious we were during the egg-stuffing phase, but it inevitably happened that at the end of the hunt, someone would be short an egg. After ensuring with my mother, who counted them 20 times beforehand, the entire family would end up searching for the elusive egg. The people that hid them would check all the spots they could remember, but after hiding 200+ eggs, you tend to forget what you did with most of them. Once someone finally found the egg, which was usually my brother for some reason (I began to suspect him after a while), we would retire to the house for the meal.
And what a meal! Everything you could ever possibly want. Of course my favorite was always the cheesy potatoes. I left the ham and the jigglers (maybe I had something against pig-products?) for the others.
All in all it was always a fun day, and usually we were left with more candy than a normal person could consume.
I have been trying to rack my brain over what I could do to celebrate the day here, in my own small way. Something that doesn't cost any money, and that I can get here. Well, I guess you ca get anything you want here, so its mainly the money thing. I was considering making easter baskets for people, but funds don't permit. Maybe I will make dinner tonight and hide the plates somewhere in the house for us to find. That could be fun. But also messy. And the house is a little too small for much creative hiding. I was thinking of making some sort of traditional meal, but without an oven, most easter-related foods are slightly difficult.
I think I just need some time to get the creative juices flowing. If I think of a good way, I will be sure to let you know, so those others who are celebrating Easter far from home can have a jolly day as well.
Happy Easter everyone!
