Is anybody else skipping easter this year?

[Chickerdoodle13]

My family is not very religious, so easter for us was always just a "fun" holiday that we spent time together as a family. This year it doesn't look like we will be celebrating Easter just for sheer lack of time! Easter weekend my mom and I are going into NYC with my aunts and uncles to celebrate my grandmother's birthday by watching a broadway show. I am going straight from school (Which is in South Jersey) to my grandmother's house in North Jersey. I won't even be home for easter...and I won't be home again until this semester ends the beginning of May.

This is a first for us and I think I am really going to miss our little family traditions. I know my mom is sad because she always loved having us do the easter egg hunt (I'm almost 21 and my brother will be 19...but we still enjoy doing these little fun traditions started when we were just babies) We would also make a rabbit cake and a nice dinner of ham or turkey.

I guess it makes it all the more difficult because I've been really missing home lately, especially since it is almost the end of this semester and the weather has been really nice.

Anybody else too busy for holidays this year?

 

[Mahonri]

Sounds like you are in a time of transition.

It's great to have the memories of Easter's past.

When I was a child on the Saturday before Easter after we had colored our eggs, our mother would pack a lunch and then we would often go on an Easter hike.

From the top of a hill or mountain, my father would tell us the story of Easter. He would start with Palm Sunday and then tell us about each day of the week. I always loved the fact that on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, Our Savior went back to Bethany to be with His family, knowing why lay ahead of Him.

He would then tell us the story of the Last Supper where the ordinance of the Sacrament was introduced.

I was in awe as my earthly father spoke of the Love of Our Savior for us as He took His disciples to that Sacred Garden spot called Gethsemane, where there upon the ground the Sinless Son of the Everlasting Father in a way seemingly without understanding for me, suffered beyond comprehension and sweat great drops of blood from every pour for all of us!

He told the story of betrayal of Judas. He told us how He was taken before the supposed religious leaders Anas and Ciaphas and how He was then sat before Pilate, Herod Antipus and then Pilate again. Pilate washed his dirty hands, had the Christ scourged and beaten and given over to be crucified.

There upon that other hill, three crosses were made ready, after the scourging he was made to carry it up that hill and upon that middle cross large mallets drove huge nails through the palms and the wrists and the feet of our Loving Savior. There upon the cross, He suffered once again all of the agonies of Gethsemane, for all of us!

There after He had willingly suffered all that we might be saved, He said, "It is finished" and His spirit left His body.

The body was taken to the Aramatheans tomb, goodly women attempted to prepare His body prior to the beginning of the Sabbath day. A stone was placed in front of the tomb and soldiers were set to guard the body.

Then on that Holy First Easter Sunday, His spirit came back to take up His body once again. The stone was rolled away and then angels stood guard.

When the women returned to finish his "embalming", they noted that the stone had been rolled away and angels that stood as sentinels declared, "He is not here, HE IS RISEN!"

Jesus Christ lives. He still has that resurrected body!

The reason we as Christians celebrate Easter!

HE LIVES!

 

[lilbirdee]

I just had to respond to this. We skip ALL holidays. I grew up with the family dinners and special outfits and presents and decorations yadda yadda. When my daughter was young I carried on the tradition and really went over board at X-mas. By the time she was a teen I started to burn out on all the time and money I was wasting when the end result was usually a let down. So I started ignoring the dates on the calendar and the isles of holiday items in the stores.
These days we celebrate the whatever holiday by just spending time together. It is usually a day that we don't have to work anyway and the rest of the country is preoccupied. Maybe we'll cook or bake something, but it doesn't have to be traditional. This is mostly because I am Vegetarian & my daughter is Vegan.
I must add that especially at x-mas time, I get an evil joy out of watching the rest of the world drive themselves crazy "getting ready for Christmas" while I just sit back and let it pass on by.
So what I'm trying to say is...make the holidays what you want them to be and not what it's always been, or what everyone else thinks it is.
Sounds corny but just make it a day to celebrate your life & your loves.

 

[Mahonri]

I need to do a better job of carrying on the traditions of my father for my own children.

 

[debilorrah]

The only reason there is a Christmas and Easter is for the birth of Jesus and His ressurection. Yes we do the eggs, but because it is a good excuse to eat too many

Ressurection cookies are a good tool with young children to remind them that Easter is not for the candy but for eternal life.

 

[zatsdeb]

I could never skip easter or any holiday that we celebrate Jesus's life, death and resurection! We celebrate the true meaning, and try not to get hyped up on all the commercial stuff... although the fun times of coloring easter eggs. My daughter always comes and we decorate eggs for jesus. my grandson still gets to do the fun things, and easter baskets, mostly it is a day to be with family and our traditions.

 

[AngieChick]

I don't think we will be celebrating Easter. We quietly phased it out a couple of years ago. Honestly, it was a tradition for us (I grew up Christian), and a great one when the kids were little. But, as they've gotten older we have etched out other traditions. We will probably stash them each a chocolate bunny to hunt out, and other than that I will ask the kids if they want to decorate eggs. They haven't felt the urge for a couple of years, and that's fine, we do lots of other things together.

One of the hardest things about growing up is letting go of bits of your childhood traditions as you create your own. If you can't make it home, have you considered having a nice dinner with friends? I am sure you aren't the only one feeling this way.

 

[EweSheep]

Quote:
Dont beat yourself over this, just try to do your best and tell it like your Dad did for you kids. It may not matter to your kids but one day they will reflect back and say yeah i remember those days and they have that story to tell their kids (your grandkids). Just do the best you can!

As for Easter, we are not planning much but except go to the zoo for easter egg hunt and our own Easter dinner and DD gets a small Easter basket and I will do my best to explain to her why we celebrated Easter and look at it as a fun holiday for kids as well as a religious holiday. We are not church goers but have a respect for those who DO celebrate the wonderful time of Christ's rise from the dead.

I do not believe all those decorations, overloading on candies too much, frilly easter dresses only to be worn once (DD grows FAST), and the stress trying to make the house Easter like. To me, putting out that chicken nest basket is Easter enough for me to celebrate!

 

[gritsar]

First year since I moved to Arkansas five years ago that I'm not working on Easter Sunday but my SO is, so no easter for us.

 

[beak]

Quote:
Depends on your religion. Pagans will tell you otherwise. Your reason does apply to christians though. They are also 2 of the only days that a lot of christians go to church. I was always amazed as a child at how many people showed up on those days. My dad never let us miss a Sunday or Holy day.

We celebrate the 2 days like good solid secular people should. Support the retail industry on x-mas and the candy industry on easter.