All About the Peeps?

Disclaimer: Any Christians offended by the secularization of Easter should probably stop reading. For the rest of you…

A non-religious friend of mine has her religious Mother-In-Law in town this weekend; unsure of the Easter traditions, she asked what's expected. It got me thinking about the Easter messaging in our house. Even after 12 years of Catholic school, my family’s Easter is very secularized. (I figure the kids have their own 8-12 years of Catholic school to learn about the nailed hands, crown of thorns, brutal death by dehydration, and all that, frankly frightening, stuff).

In our house, it’s about living the lives we’ve been given. For Daddy, it’s spring snow north of the border. For Mommy, it’s finding solace and strength in both zumba and bar method being open Easter Sunday (after all – I need something to combat the sugar roller coaster – both mine and the kiddos). For the kiddos, it’s sneaking fist-fulls of Peeps and malted milk balls when mom’s not looking. It’s floral dresses, plush bunnies and dyed fingernails (if you employ the hand dip method like my kiddos). Most importantly, it’s gratitude for each of these simple pleasures.

In the damp and drizzly spring of the Pacific Northwest (actually, not even drizzle, but pouring rain and hail), Easter is about hope. Hope for sunnier skies and warmer temps. On Friday, we celebrated Earth Day and talked about helping our planet stay livable. Today, during our indoor chocolate egg hunt, we looked out on bright blooms weighed down by water. Beyond those tenacious blooms, rest lush grass, green trees and thriving ferns ... the kind that create the air for that deep cleansing breath. It's a reminder that Easter time is about renewal, life, new growth. It’s a time for gathering together, indulging in processed sugar, and celebrating. It’s about joy.

When we get the rare luxury of a sunny Easter egg hunt every decade or so (as we did yesterday), it’s a three–year-old frolicking barefoot and sleeveless in 60-degree weather. It’s the gratitude, hope, renewal and joy the faithful celebrate with that first “Alleluia.” And it’s the optimism to debut our summer whites.