Easter

F.G. and K.D. got to experience their first major Christian holiday - American style. Easter is an even bigger holiday in Ethiopia for the Orthodox Christians, who have a special type of fast that lasts for nearly two months. On the last day of the fast (Saturday), the people go to church all day for celebrations and then return home in the middle of the night to break the fast and have a grand celebration and feast on Easter Sunday.




Well, rather than spending the whole day on Saturday at church like the Ethiopians, we colored eggs. An event boasting of dye filled mugs - whose contents are intended to stain - combined with twelve inexperienced hands does not normally get classified as a holiday. But after the last brightly dyed egg was put out to dry on the cooling rack, CrazyMom and I were surprised that things went so well. No egg fights, no throwing (or even dumping) of dye mugs, no crazy silliness that starts like a spark in dry grass and is soon uncontainable. Expecting disaster helps. It makes anything less than a disaster seem like a cause for joy.


Easter baskets neatly filled with plastic "grass", weeks worth of candy, and a small toy were waiting for the kids Sunday morning, thanks to CrazyMom and another late night run to the store. The kids were excited and quickly figured out that in America one gets to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ by having candy before breakfast. You got to love this country.


While some of our traditions seem weak compared to Ethiopian culture, we are very competitive in the feasting department. After church we were treated to CrazyMom's Easter Feast. Ham, cheesy potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, bread, green jello, green jello salad, lemonade, and brightly colored hard broiled eggs. Recounting it all makes me full all over again.

Inclement weather drove our traditional egg hunt indoors. The hidden plastic eggs were empty, rather than filled with candy. You do, after all, have to draw a line somewhere. F.G. and K.D. caught on quickly to the hunt and it did not matter that the eggs were empty. Miss Bookworm was showing signs of age when she elected to help hide eggs this year rather than hunt for them.

A family prayer time in the girls room closed off the day for us. The warmth of all of the kids gathered around in PJs after a long solid day together still has not faded away.