A few days ago I realized it was Easter this weekend, a day that up until a few years ago was marked with pre-planning, purchasing random crap, cooking, dying eggs, and preparing for the Easter bunny arrival. We crafted, we dyed eggs, baked elaborate cakes and candies, and woke up to a huge basket full of candy and toys. In fact those Easter baskets were full of more stuff than we exchange for Christmas now! We "do" holidays a bit different now.
 |
| Wiki image...I am good but not THAT good! |
As someone who grew up with very little family and even less tradition it was so important to me to give those things to my children. It was something I felt they needed since I had craved it so much as a little girl. As I look back on it though, I see that I was so consumed with tradition and perfection that I lost sight of the people I was trying to do it all for. I was hurried, impatient, and wrapped up in the holiday going so perfectly that I am not sure anyone enjoyed the day at all.
Flash forward to today. We sit here in Malaysia, where it is ghastly hot, and up until about 1 hour ago we had absolutely no plans at all. Thanks to our friends at Our Travel Lifestyle we will have a little Easter egg hunt, enjoy hot cross buns and have a nice afternoon chatting while the kids all play. A perfect, calm and relaxed afternoon!
 |
| Not exactly traditional but a great fun day with friends anyway! |
I have never been a very religious person, so Easter rarely meant what it is intended to mean anyway but it was still a day we celebrated, cooked yummy traditional foods, and spent time with extended family. I spent the past few days feeling grateful that I no longer stress myself and family to have a perfect tradition. I also appreciate that my children understand the holiday but no longer expect a huge basket of needless toys and candy to feel it was a good day. We have all grown in that way.
We went shopping yesterday to get groceries and we let the boys all pick out a candy treat as well as bought some chocolate for the household. It is mostly gone already, but the sentiment was that it was a treat for Easter. I woke up feeling a bit down, slightly sad at the loss of yet another tradition that I abandoned.
How could something that was so important to me a couple years ago now mean virtually nothing? The answer I think is personal growth, in knowing that these things hold no value over our lives and in realizing, like I did this morning, that it is OK to grow and change over the years. Just because it is different to us doesn't mean it holds no importance.
How could something that was so important to me a couple years ago now mean virtually nothing? The answer I think is personal growth, in knowing that these things hold no value over our lives and in realizing, like I did this morning, that it is OK to grow and change over the years. Just because it is different to us doesn't mean it holds no importance.
On Facebook this morning I saw that people had posted pictures of their baskets in waiting and each and every one was stuffed to the gills, overflowing even onto the surface around. I felt sad. Don't get me wrong, there isn't anything inherently wrong with celebrating in a traditional way or even in having a nice big overflowing basket for our children in the morning. But I can't help but think about the wastefulness of it all, the lessons in over consumption that are being missed, and the feeling that being on the other side of it all is a happier place.
My first thought was, "how excessive, what are they teaching their children!" Then as I sat there thinking back on our Easter's years ago I realized that I was doing the same thing at one point and it was very important to me. It made me happy! We all have to reach a level of simplicity in our own time. For us, OK maybe just me, in regards to holidays, it happened very slowly over years. No one time frame is better than another. And no one way to live our lives is better or worse than any other. Happiness is the key and people find their happiness in many different ways.
 |
| Our last Easter basket, this was for all 3 kids |
I may not have had an Easter activity driven week. It is hot, and none of the locals celebrate Easter. We have been listening to the call to prayer rather than church bells. Stump speeches by the candidates for president lofted through the air last night and there was no baking, no quiches, no kuegli, and no Easter bread. But this year more than any other I have thought long and hard about what this day means and accepted that it means different things to everyone.
 |
| An Easter pinata, of course! |
It can even mean different things to the same people through the years. We have done traditional Easter at our home with family in CT, we have seen the deeply spiritual in Costa Rica during their Semana Santa celebrations and know that Good Friday has deeper meaning than Easter itself, and we have been in Asia where this is a day like any other, a week with no particular meaning at all. It is fascinating and deeply educating to not only see and live the differences but to accept it and be content in the ways that viewing the differences changes your own perspective.
Today IS Easter, but this year it is a day that I relish in how far we have come and feel content in the changes we have made for our family. I suppose I will always feel a twinge of doubt or of longing for the life we left behind and the traditions that we can no longer stand behind. But I will remain grateful, content, and understanding of the paths we all choose! After all, tolerance is really a key component to Christianity, so in a way this Easter is one of the most special of all, even if I didn't realize it until it was upon me.
