Since I didn’t grow up in a church-going family, and only had a few years of semi-religious interest in high school, Easter has never been about Jesus much, for me. In my family, it was all about coloring eggs, hiding eggs, finding eggs, and Easter baskets full of candy. Interesting that both Easter in the spring and Halloween in the fall have such an emphasis on sweets.
We have always decorated eggs the “old-fashioned” way, both when I was growing up, and with my own children when they were small. Vinegar, boiling water, and food coloring. We never used any fancy egg-coloring kits, and the results of those dyed eggs exemplify Easter for me. Sometimes we used white crayons to draw on the eggs first as the dye didn’t stick to the wax, but mostly it was single-colored, two-colored, tri-colored, or possibly drip-pattern pastel colors on our hard-boiled eggs.
Nowadays, kids in the States seem to have a Christmas equivalent when it comes to Easter activities and their baskets, which are invariably huge and full of all kinds of goodies, not just chocolate eggs and jellybeans. Here in Sweden, children usually get one Ostrich-egg-sized paper egg filled with candy, and perhaps, a pair of fun socks. The AIC hosts an annual egg hunt and picnic for families, which has always taken place on Easter Sunday, because here as well, church takes a backseat in society. We haven’t been in years, since my kids aged out of the activity, but from the looks of the photos each year, it’s still as appreciated as ever.
This is, I think, the first year, when both kids are not at home, and we haven’t colored eggs at all. Martin came home late yesterday, and then Maria, Mikael, Sofia (and Dante the dog) came over for a Good Friday dinner. We’ve mostly “celebrated” with a dinner on Good Friday, with Anders’ family, and his parents often hosted, hiding the big paper eggs for the kids. Karin missed it this year since she doesn’t come home until next week, and Henrik was busy, but our Easter potluck of traditional Swedish smörgåsbord foods was delicious: 3 kinds of herring, warm smoked salmon with caviar sauce, gravlax with “hovmästare” sauce, boiled potatoes, hardboiled eggs, cold sausage, cheddar quiche (baked by Anders), meatballs, cooked sausages, and dark bread and crackers with cheeses. I made a strawberry Daim meringue cake for dessert. We were all stuffed afterwards, and spent a nice evening chatting and catching up all together.
This morning, I gave Martin his Easter basket, plus one for Theo, filled to the brim with candy. 🙂 He wasn’t expecting it, so it was nice to surprise him, and Theo, whose family is far away up north, was very happy, too. It’s the middle of an extra-long weekend, and I’m taking advantage of it to rest and relax as much as possible. Reading books, creating crossword puzzles, playing games, watching Blown Away on Netflix. And very deliberately NOT thinking about work. Anders is gone again next week, so I’m glad it will be a short one, and with Karin coming home late Thursday, an extra-happy one.
I just got back from a brisk 1.5K around my usual route, and it made me so happy to see the hints of green and the buds about to burst on all the trees, shrubs, hedges, and bushes. It’s not yet exactly warm, but it’s definitely warming. Spring is nearly here, hurrah! No matter how you celebrate, I wish you a very Happy Easter!
mood: relaxed
music: Keria Knightley—Coming Up Roses