In our home, as we are a Christian family; we celebrate Easter with Jesus in mind. We spend a lot of Easter Sunday in church. And every Friday after Ash Wednesday, we go to support local churches and businesses that have fish fry’s. In the Pittsburgh area, a lot of the volunteer fire and EMS companies  do fish fry’s to raise money.

When I was a child growing up, Easter was very much like Christmas as far as presents are concerned. We always got a ton of presents. We were also a Christian family, as far as we believed in Christ, but we never went to church much.

Since marrying a very Christian man and starting to go to church regularly and finding more about the meaning We knew that when we had children we wanted to change this tradition, and make the holiday a lot more about Christ and less about The big bunny.

However, We also wanted to keep it fun for the children as well. So we do still go see the bunny at the mall, which is more just as a fun treat, and the kids ride the EasterEggspress train. And we also go to egg hunts around town. Just to spend time together.
about 2 nights before Easter Sunday we dye eggs as a family and write on them Christ, crosses, Happy Spring, and everyone’s names, and other things like this.

We kinda keep the bunny part to celebrate the upcoming of Spring, which to us here in Pittsburgh is definitely something to celebrate and look forward to nicer, longer days and sunnier, warmer days for the kids to play outside more. And the dreaded winter is over. To us it is a sign of a new beginning and new life. The flowers will soon be out, and we have a “contest” every year to see which kid can see the first signs of spring (robin, flowers, leaves on trees, buds, blossoms) first, the winner doesn’t win anything except to be able to say, they saw it first, but it is something fun our family does.

On Easter Sunday, however, like I said, we are almost at church all day. We dress better then any other time of year, and spend the day singing, and praying, and just worshiping Jesus.
After that is when we do come home, and the children have a small basket to open. Usually it contains some candy, maybe 1 or 2 small gifts, sometimes a video, and a religious item.
That is about it.

We then have our own Easter Egg hunt in our backyard and all the children, mine and my sisters, and who ever else may be coming over under the age of 13, get to participate. The older children are the ones who get to hide the eggs, which they like to do anyway. The grandparents take turns every year putting money (change) in each egg.

*Funny side note* The first year my in -laws did the egg hunt they didn’t know how much money to put into each egg, I don’t think they got the concept, they actually put like 50cents in each egg, well, there are well over 200 eggs that get filled !!! So, you can imagine how much they spent !!! My mother couldn’t believe it (she does a lot of eggs with just a few pennies, and only a couple with maybe one dollar coins, but she maybe spends $50 at the most). Needless to say, all the kids were “rich” that year.

The kids then go out, youngest to oldest and one at a time to get their eggs (babies that cannot walk yet, parents help them of course). Then after all the kids find all the eggs (usually they dont find them all, and around october we still find a couple, what a treat that is!!) they come in and get an adult buddy that helps them tally up the amount they have in their eggs and then they see who got the most money for their piggy banks. It is pretty fun.

After that excitement, my 2 boys, 12 and 9, and my husband play their instruments; violin, viola, and piano. They play some more Easter church music and springtime favorites, and we sing. This is a very enjoyable time.

By now we are all hungry so we eat a big family dinner, usually consisting of ham, scalloped potatoes, pickled eggs & beets, cucumbers in vinegar, rolls, (my sister always brings butter shaped like a rabbit….don’t ask), potato salad, cole-slaw, macaroni and cheese, and rice and peas (a Jamaican tradition), sometimes I will make collard greens, but only sometimes.
Desserts are peach cobbler, apple pie, cheesecake with cherries, and cookies.

Now, I am wondering:

1. How do you spend your Easter, and where in the world do you live ? (so I can see if it differs from place to place)

2. Do you make Easter more religious or more Easter Bunnish ?

3. Do your kids get presents like it is Christmas, or not ?

4. If your not Christian, do you even celebrate the holiday at all, or do you celebrate because of society and just make it about the bunny/spring ?

5. Do you have any different traditions then you were brought up with (have you incorporated any new ones of your own ?)

6. What traditions if any from when you were growing up have you kept ?

7. Do you spend a lot of money at Easter time ? If so, what on ? Food, Presents, games, decorations ?

8. Do you do any pre-Easter things ex: egg hunts, spring events ?

I am just interested in knowing how your Easter is from your little part of the world, Thank you for sharing 

The Plus Size Mommy

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