Easter Wants Its Own Traditions

Easter is a difficult one for me. Back in my more Catholic days--can you believe I taught CCD classes once upon a time--Easter trumped Christmas, by far. But since it falls during different months and doesn't have the whole commercial build up, it often gets left behind in the dust as a real holiday. But I love Easter. Easter means daffodils and the reemergence of pastels for spring couture (as if anyone in this house uses the word couture). Easter means an excuse to eat lots of ham and eggs. Oh, so many eggs!

But it's been hard to establish some family traditions with Easter. My husband and I have been married for almost eight years, this May. I have celebrated Easter in three different countries, one of them that didn't celebrate Easter and one which celebrated it with witches. The second year we were married, Easter was part of my own mourning of a lost pregnancy and the fourth year we were married with was a week after the birth of our first child. Some years we have been with family and others all alone. We have hunted real eggs and fake eggs. Bunnies have been part of the gig some years and not others. Some years I make the traditional Easter bread and some years, like this one, I just don't have it in me. Some times I crave Swedish Easter treats and others I want ham--but when you're in a Muslim country....there is no ham. Oh, except for the ham we smuggled in. We had 12 people over for that Easter all begging for more more more ham!

Sometimes the Easter bunny brings chocolate, sometimes he brings toys, sometimes he brings things my kids need.

Sometimes we dye eggs, except the year Alex was born and even one year I used onion skins and natural ingredients--like red cabbage to dye the eggs. On Easter anything seems to go.

But I really think Easter, in our house, needs its own traditions. I just haven't gotten there yet.

Happy Easter! Cross posted on DC Metro Moms.