First Posted: 4/7/2012
Certain times of year bring you back to a different place and time.For me, Easter brings back memories of sleeping on the floor at my grandmother’s house near Chicago, swearing I could see the Easter bunny delivering baskets of goodies late Saturday night. Then Easter Sunday meant cramming into Mass at her nearby church before dining with generations of my mother’s family around that old, wooden table, swapping stories about history and the present.Call me a softie, but I’ll take those memories over the raised hopes and ensuing disappointment that come with every Christmas. Easter is a simpler holiday, with lessened expectations for families.I can look back at those days with nostalgia, playing horseshoes in my grandma’s backyard or attempting to play basketball at the park near her home. I’d play happily with my cousins, some of whom I only saw that one time a year.And I couldn’t forget that annual family fight, over when you were too old to participate in the Easter egg hunt. (My answer then is the same as it is now: When you no longer want to participate, your time should be up so those still excited by it can enjoy it.)Like so many traditions, I feared that family Easter celebration might pass on when Grandma Jacobs died several years ago.I’m happy to say we’ve salvaged some of it, though. The 21st century gathering now takes place at my home, albeit with just my branch of the family. With seven siblings in my family, that seemed to be enough to fill one house.The Easter bunny still sneaks baskets full of goodies into the house each spring, although there seem to be more toys and fewer sweets nowadays. My own family still attends Mass, and we can’t help but notice all the extra people who join us on Easter and Christmas. Generations of my family gather around the numerous tables we place in our house, sharing stories about the good old days, which apparently started in the 1980s in our gatherings.Instead of horseshoes, we throw a football in the backyard. Instead of basketball at a park, the children play on swings in our yard. And my children are lucky enough to see all their cousins more than once a year since we all live within 45 minutes of one another, but still we never visit often enough.We still fight about whether the teenagers should participate in the Easter egg hunt. I still say you shouldn’t unless you want to do it.These traditions are worth preserving.They’re worth preserving because they’re based on ideals worth preserving: family, faith and fellowship.All too often nowadays, people stray from these ideals. There’s such a push for individualism, commercialism and self-satisfaction.Sure, our ideals are old fashioned, but that also means they’re tried and true. There’s still nothing wrong with loving your family, loving God and having a willingness to spend time with both of them.Frankly, they give you an amazing amount of self-satisfaction when you invest enough of yourself in them.I hope these ideals stick with my children, and their children some day. I’d love nothing more than Easter bringing back positive memories for them of all the things that really matter in life.
