Breaking Tradition – An Easter Away From Home

This picture always reminds me of an Easter when my brother, sister and I were kids.  I’m glad someone had the good sense of humor to put this out there however long ago they did because I buy the same card every year now and send it to my brother to remind him of his heinous crime.  His crime of stealing, gluttony and lying that lived on for more than 2 decades. Shame on you brother. Letting your little sister take the fall for that, all those years!

Long story short, it was somewhere in the mid to late 1970’s.  My brother was in high school – probably 16 or 17.  That would have made me 8 or 9 and my sister 11 or 12.  Anyway, we all got baskets each year of course.  Each basket had a solid milk chocolate bunny, some other chocolate candy- probably Reese’s peanut butter cups – some jelly beans and robins eggs malted candies – the good kind – the kind you could lick and smear all over your face and make your lips turn colors so you looked like Effie from Hunger Games.  There were also always marshmallow Peeps.  Back then there were only yellow Peeps – none of this blue raspberry and orange creamsicle craziness. Chocolate Peeps are not crazy.  They should have totally been a thing back then too.  Each of us always got a toy or non-consumable treat of some sort.  Usually my brother got a Balsa wood airplane.  My sister and me, hair accessories, Avon lip balm or nail polish – something girlie.

One year, after tearing through our baskets my sister decided to put her chocolate rabbit in the freezer to preserve it and save it for a while I guess.  It couldn’t have been more than a week later that she opened the freezer with what I can only imagine was sheer, delicious anticipation of her chocolate bunny.  How she did that, I’ll never know, because mine was gone within three days.  Mine never lasted.  I’m a crazed chocowhorlic (reference photo gallery for proof – you’ll see what I mean).  Anyway – she went in for her cryo-bunny and found it had been decapitated.  Someone had eaten the ears and head off her rabbit.  I knew it wasn’t me, but Chris swore it wasn’t him either and since everyone knows I’m the chocowhorlic in the family…well…

The mystery was never officially solved and no one was formally punished, but man was Kir sour about that.

It wasn’t until about 10 years ago, when we were all gathered around at Mom’s on Easter Sunday that my brother fessed up and told my sister it was him.  Finally my good name, cleared.

I may be a sucker for chocolate.  But I had no willpower back then.  There’s no way she’d have seen the rest of the body.

Wonder if that conversation came up at all today?  Wonder if my brother and sister even saw each other?  It’s definitely been a different Easter weekend for Kevin, Nathan and me.

For many, Easter is a time for renewal of faith and the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It’s also a time of pie baking, egg dying, egg hunting, ham carving and coming together with family. The pictures on FaceBook today of all the kids and families in their varied ways of celebrating this holiday were entertaining.  I thank you in advance for the pirate egg hunters, the over-sized galosh-wearing egg hunters, the “I can dress just like my American Doll” church goers, the precious infants in the laps of Easter Bunnies all across the land!  You all know who you are and your families are lovely.  I smiled at all of you and hope you had a beautiful day.

Despite the tradition of gathering with whatever family can still gather at either my mother’s, sister’s or my own house for Easter each year –  Kevin, Nathan and I decided to get the heck outta dodge and just BE.  It’s been a long and stressful winter and this just felt right this time.

Feel free to Comment on the pics in this gallery post

.  Some of them are well…they’re just us.  😉

 

Happy Easter all!