Happy Easter to all of you who celebrate! It also happens to be in the thick of Passover, so… happy… that? (Do you wish someone a Happy Passover?)
I thought I’d take this time to share with you my weird traditions surrounding Easter. While I don’t do an Easter tree and my celebrations have been pared down significantly in recent years (thanks, Covid), I still have some must-do things that I’d love to tell you about!
Easter baskets
Yes they’re traditional for most households, but I love making Easter baskets. I revel in the opportunity to give my loved ones that little nugget of joy. I have (so far? at the time of cranking out this content?) only built three this year, but I’m really excited for each of my lil’ babies to enjoy theirs.
What do I put in the baskets I build? We’ve already discussed that – unless the recipient hates them – Peeps are a must. I also always include plastic Easter eggs full of random small candies (sometimes jelly beans). It’s a weird family tradition that there be Play-doh or Silly Putty in there. I also like to add in random toys that inspire tons of nostalgia and joy.
Most importantly to me (is this my love language?), I insist that each basket have something that feels like I built it for you, specifically.
We also loudly exclaim something along the lines of, “What?! The Easter Bunny came?! Oh my gosh! How did he get in?!”
Dyeing eggs
I love to dye eggs! I love it so freakin’ much! I always tell myself that I’m going to get super creative with it, and every year start with a lot of energy and kinda peter out and realize the futility of it all and Werner Herzog starts narrating the unsaturated film of my meaningless existence. But then I’m done and I’m like “Yay! … now what?”
Family dinner
I usually get together with my mom and dad for an Easter dinner. Most often, one of my aunts is there. Sometimes my brother, sometimes my godson. My granny might pop in.
Sometimes we have turkey (purchased by my mother on sale during Thanksgiving and put away in the deep freeze for an undetermined “later”), sometimes it’s ham. Sometimes it’s a lot of eggs, sometimes it’s not. Sometimes its on Easter, sometimes it’s not.
If this all sounds wishy-washy, you’re not wrong. We’re not real sticklers for tradition as far as this one holiday meal goes. Mostly, we just insist that we share a meal together at some point.
My office
I hide Easter eggs around my office. Shh! Almost no one ever notices, but it gives me a lot of joy, okay?!