Easter at my house [View all]
I did not celebrate or even acknowledge the existence of Easter for about 15 years, from my early 20s until my first child was born. As far as I was concerned, it was a holiday that did not exist. But when my wife and I started a family, we thought it would be fun for the kids to have a little Easter egg hunt on Easter, like we did when we were kids. So after a decade-and-a-half hiatus, Easter returned.
Our next-door neighbors had children the same age as ours, and when we saw them outside on that Easter morning five years ago we decided on the spur of the moment that it would be more fun for everyone if we combined our Easter egg hunt. So we combined our eggs and spread them around both front yards. The kids had a blast. The whole thing lasted about 15 minutes, and then we each went back into our houses. It was a very modest event. What we didn't realize at the time was that it was the beginning of an annual tradition.
The next year we once again combined our Easter egg hunt with the next door neighbors. And we decided to add brunch, and a few other people. So EarlG came over with his wife and son. And one of my wife's co-workers came over with her family. And my adult niece was there.
The next year we invited a few other people -- families with young children. And the brunch got bigger. And the next year we added some more people. And more people the year after that. We started inviting other families in the neighborhood. This year we invited pretty much everyone we know on our block, along with a bunch of our other friends. We had about 50 people.
Among the people attending our Easter egg hunt and brunch this year, we had: Church-going devout Catholics, church-going devout Protestants, observant and non-observant Jews (including an atheist Jewish Reconstructionist who keeps kosher on Passover), lapsed Catholic and Protestant Christians, some atheist and agnostic former Christians, a number of atheist Hindus (and possibly some observant Hindus), some children with mixed families that include one Western parent and the other parent from an Asian religious tradition (Buddhism and maybe also Shintoism), a pair of Swedish nationals of indeterminate religion, and some children (including my own) whose parents are not raising them in any faith and do not tell them what they are supposed to believe.
My wife and I stayed up until 2am on Saturday night cooking the food, cleaning the house, and stuffing candy into plastic eggs. It was hard work, but it was worth it. The food was fantastic, and the people were friendly. Everyone seemed to have a good time.
That's what Easter is to me. It is not a religious holiday. But it is also not a time when anyone is made to feel bad about what they believe -- whatever it is. You can be religious or non-religious, and you don't even have to celebrate Easter in your own family. Everyone is welcome at my house on Easter. All we ask is that you be friendly and respectful to other guests, and please help yourself to all the food.
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