Link, sorry! http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4385939.cms

like feed the Poor or something

Arf! That's a good one.

If by feed the poor, you actually mean gorge ourselves on chocolate, then yes. We do that.

My Easter consists mainly of seeing friends. And maybe going to the seaside. And "the watching of the Doctor" which, along with "the watching of the small rouge one" is a relatively new tradition.

Of course, what I'd like to do is follow the teachings of Jesus and stay in bed for 3 days.

I'm heading out for an annual brunch that a couple of my friends throw for all their non-child-having friends. They do a great job, making this particular kind of Italian frittata with soppressata and a mushroom-tomato dish. I'm bringing a big grilled veggie antipasto which came out really well this year.

After that, I'll come home and join LT who is now doing an Easter-themed radio show with lots of old-time gospel. If it's not too chilly we'll go have a walk on the beach. Then two friends are coming up for supper, so I'll probably start cooking this afternoon.

I was thinking about the trappings of holidays today. For Christmas I always feel like I live in exactly the right place. We have the pine trees, the horses and carriages, the bustling people all wrapped up in hats and mittens, the moon on the breast of the new fallen snow and all that. A New England Christmas is like the classic image of Christmas. Easter, however, is a different story. It's not all ducks and daffodils here at Easter - it's still too cold. Heck, it can even snow. So the symbols of the holiday don't match up with the actual weather. Growing up in New Jersey it seemed like Easter was cold and rainy at least half the time, which was kind of a bummer as a kid when you got a new flouncy spring dress and it was too cold to wear it comfortably.

I'm going to my parents for our usual sandwiches and fruit lunch. We're not doing a big Easter dinner because we don't feel like it. My sister is hiding eggs stuffed with money for the kids. Some will have 12 cents, some will have one or two dollars. We're really into the meaning of things. ;-)

This morning while I was still sleeping, my kids were up looking through their baskets. My husband was up and he never once said happy Easter to them or anything about Easter. (In the past we have discussed at length what Easter is, so they aren't clueless.) He only said, "Give me some candy!" about five times. I always say Happy Easter!, so Happy Easter!

Easter usually means a big meal with extended family (usually lamb for some reason that is never explained to me), handing out candy to children, decorating with pastel-colors and celebrating the first Full Moon following the Vernal Equinox (It's totally SPRING NOW so break out the big parades and colorful hats!)

If you're devout you may go to Easter Services, but we always did the pagan-y aspects of Easter (Spring! Fertility! Chocolate!) and not so much the Christian aspects.

That being said, if you are very devote, it's a happier celebration than Christmas. Christ is born with the knowledge that he will die. Easter is the rebirth and promise of salvation, so yay! eat some candy and wear some yellow flowers.

I have an aunt who donates "Easter Baskets" of food (candy, usually, cause she figures they get beans and bread all the time) to shelters but she's almost a saint and not representative of the rest of our sorry, hell-bound family.

(also it's a frakin' PERFECT Easter here in NYC. Sunny. Bright. Mild. Slight breeze. The trees have all burst out their spring blossoms and everyone seems to have dressed up extra-bright and neat.)

Yep, I spent Easter morning time on the air, spinning songs of resurrection and redemption, which also included Mary, Mary by the Monkees and I Am The Resurrection by the Stone Roses.

Good set, nice day out, soon at beach.

I have nothing special planned for today, except some more packing. I'm even strongly considering skipping church because of all the "extra" people I know will be there, even though it's the early service. I'll go to the gym instead, to make up for the Dairy Queen blizzard I ate last night for purely emotional reasons.

Interesting article, hadjiboy. I enjoy reading alternate thoughts on the Bible. Sometimes I think the church tries a little to hard to control The Message instead of just letting the words speak for themselves.

Growing up in New Jersey it seemed like Easter was cold and rainy at least half the time, which was kind of a bummer as a kid when you got a new flouncy spring dress and it was too cold to wear it comfortably.

That's funny, because even though it's not the traditional image and even though we weren't Christians, I think so fondly of my childhood Easters on the Asbury Park boardwalk watching the parade that I kind of wish it was the traditional image of Easter.

It's just a normal Sunday for me, except that most stores are closed. I wish it were warmer out. It looks so nice and sunny and I want to sit outside and read, but it's too cold.

We are having a big family (in laws) dinner tonight. Took the baby to her first baseball game today, and she lasted the whole time! (took a nap in her bjorn for 3 innings). Sadly, the Orioles lost, as they always do when I go.

Special things? Just a few... Unfortunately, my parents are celebrating Easter in Florida with my sister and her husband this year, so I haven't done anything special to mark the day other than sit in the park and let my soul absorb the sunshine and the spring. And then I went to work, blargh.

But usually, Easter is an excuse for my family to indulge its strange sense of humor: we love ceremony, but our celebration of it is always mildly tongue-in-cheek. No one in this branch of the family is a literalist (not even or perhaps especially the theologians), but we all find Easter to be simply fun. Feeding the poor is something many of us try to do throughout the year, so a holiday like Easter is mostly about spending time together.

There are two major debates: first, whether to go to the sunrise service in the garden or to the main morning service with all of the wonderful music, or both; and second, whether to have a turkey or a ham. My vote is always ham, my father's is always turkey, so it comes down to what our guests feel like, but since Dad is the primary family chef, he tends to win. My mother unveils the Easter Baskets she's put together for everyone with cards and flowers and little gifts, plus a line of Peeps (which we mostly slip back into her basket because she's the only one who really loves them) and a chocolate rabbit and malted chocolate eggs nestled in the fake grass. The Easter equivalent of a Christmas stocking.

Now, when I was little, we also made an Easter Tree: a delicate thing spray-painted white and hung with beautifully decorated eggs and ribbon that was small enough to set on a table. They were very popular in our part of the South. Things in general were more elaborate back then. My mother or her mother usually made dresses for my sister and I to wear on Easter- flowered things with full skirts and inset lace, worn with hats and gloves- so that we would fit right in with all the other little girls in their Laura Ashleys and Gunne Sax. This in turn was an excellent reason for our mother to have our pictures taken professionally. The result was typically pretty priceless. But that would happen after church, and if my father was the minister that year, we would be at church for several hours. I don't remember minding that very much. Afterwards, pictures, and probably attendance at the Egg Hunt held at the botanical garden.

The rest of the afternoon and evening (then and now) are taken up with roasting and baking and the crafting of Pysanka eggs. As far as I can tell, there have been absolutely no Eastern Europeans in the family for at least 400 years, but the tradition has been firmly ingrained for some time, and everyone tries to make a few eggs a year, either to keep or to give as pretty gifts, decorated especially for the recipient. When the turkey is ready, we adjourn to eat it, and then go right back to making eggs. If The Ten Commandments is playing, we'll turn it on and recite all the lines as dramatically as possible.

Regardless of what I've thought of God at the time, I've always loved Easter.

Started with the annual Easter egg hunt this morning (even though my boys are 15 and 12 they still enjoy the tradition). Then we popped over my brother-in-law's house to drop off baskets for my niece and nephew (first time we're not visiting with them for an extended time in years). After that, I dropped off a family Easter basket to Mr. V and my stepkids. Finally, we went to my mom's, met there by my brother and his wife for a very nice Easter dinner. Home early enough to just hang out - and my vacation starts this week! Bliss!

We had an Easter dinner with the in-laws and some friends of theirs on Friday.

When I was a kid we'd wake up to Easter Baskets stuffed with candy and toys set at the end of our beds. We could dig into those but had to be quiet until the grown-ups got up. Later on there would be an Egg Hunt and lunch/dinner with a ham as the centre-piece.

I was kind of afraid of the Easter Bunny because he sneaked into the house. I don't know why Santa Clause doing the same thing didn't scare me.

I think so fondly of my childhood Easters on the Asbury Park boardwalk

...we might have been there at the same time! When I remember being so cold in my nice clothes - that's what I'm remembering, how odd it was to be on a cold rainy boardwalk all dressed up!