Easter is kind of a weird holiday for our family. We haven’t yet established what the holiday is for us. We aren’t the go-to-church-for-the-resurection-of-Christ type people, but we aren’t the “The Easter Bunny’s coming!” type either. I look at Easter as a family holiday as growing up I always spent the day with my extended family, but we haven’t always had extended family around since our girls were born.
Honeybun’s first Easter my sister was in town. We started the tradition of filling an Easter basket for the girls to find (though we don’t really talk about the Easter Bunny bringing it…they’ve never asked). That year we also attended a family picnic at one of hubby’s co-workers’ house. It was a fun day with Easter Egg hunt and time with friends.
The next year we were back in Florida after having just moved to Ireland. We were staying with my Aunt and Uncle and this was the year Honeybun bumped her head on the table and ended up in the hospital (see “Sharing Love and Time”). She was able to at least get her basket unpacked but we missed breakfast, dinner and all the other festivities my Aunt had planned for her.
Sugarplum’s first Easter we were in Dublin, just the four of us. We did our own thing at home Easter day but the week before we attended a Easter party with our play group which was so much fun. The kids got all dressed up and we had an Easter Egg hunt and just enjoyed each other’s’ company.
Last year we were winding down our time in Europe so decided to take the extra-long holiday time to travel. We did Easter baskets at home with my parents who were visiting the weekend before Easter and again attended the playgroup’s annual party and then we took a trip to Vilnius, Lithuania; Vienna, Austria and ended up in Budapest, Hungary for the actual day. Throughout our trip we were able to experience Easter traditions in each city and on Easter day attended the first annual Easter Festival at Buda Castle (we didn’t realize until we got home that the festival was not an every year thing!). During the festival the girls were able to enjoy traditional dancing, music and food. Honeybun still talks about the “Hungary Dancers” (funny if you’ve ever been a part of the ballet world…) and hubby and I can’t stop thinking about the “Kürtőskalács”, a traditional sweet bread which we are still formulating a plan for home making!
This year’s Easter we plan to do baskets at home in the morning and will be joining my Aunt, Uncles, and Cousins for dinner. Honeybun keeps asking when we are going to see the Easter bunny (though she also told me “Auntie said it’s just a guy in a costume”) so will hopefully get to go somewhere for an Easter egg hunt and visit with the bunny over the weekend also.
Whether you celebrate Easter, Passover, something else or nothing at all, I hope you also take the time to celebrate your family and the wonderful gift THEY are!
