Easters past

I know I said I'd write an Easter blog (to some of my viewers), but I'm a bit short on content. Easter is pretty much the same every year, and has always been pretty similar. My most interesting Easter tale would involve Easter in Hawaii, if I remembered it, or the year it snowed on Easter in Texas, which would be a one-sentence blog not worth reading.

So, instead, I've just decided to talk about what Easter was like as a child. It wasn't really exciting, per se, except for the chocolate. My immediate family never pushed the religious aspect, really. They did the Easter bunny thing, though. We always had to go to bed early, because if we didn't, "the Easter bunny won't come if you're awake." How this ever was convincing to me, I'm not sure. Maybe it's the fact that I'm overanalytical which led me to discovering the true nature of the Easter bunny. Honestly, I don't remember, but I still went to bed early, even after "finding out," because I wanted that candy.

Of course, to me, bed "early" meant 5 minutes early, at most, and I never fell asleep early (I'm an insomniac. I never told my parents this; thus, they don't believe that I really was awake so late every night even after going to bed). When I woke up Easter morning, there was always an Easter basket filled with candy and a special little gift- one year, I got a Christina Aguilera cassette for my walkman (now I don't know where either one has gone), another year, I got a big purple stuffed peep (of whose whereabouts I also am not certain).

Then, of course, we did the Easter egg hunt thing. Sometimes they were in the couch, or in the coffee table (the top lifted and there were 2 compartments inside). This, of course, was when we lived in Killeen, in a much smaller house; I think an Easter egg hunt here would have been KILLER awesome, but by the time we moved here, I was a teenager, and  was to "be nice" to my sister (8 years younger) and let her find more, basically.

Afterward, we chose a small portion of our candy to take with us to take the (at the time) 3 hour drive to my grandparents' house, where we never visited as much as we do now that we're 2 hours closer. There, we would have another hunt at their (now dismantled) trailer house, outside. This made for some amazing hiding places for eggs!

It was always outside back then, as it is now, and they'd have the younger kids sit inside and not look out the windows as they hid the eggs. Each kid, as they do today, got a money egg; the price has gone from $2 or $3 back then to $6 now (I admit to being a little jealous), but it was always exciting to find your "money egg". It had your name on it; if you found someone else's money egg, you were to leave it be until they found it. Occasionally, we'd lose an egg or two and EVERYONE would go out searching for it, but this wasn't often. I've not participated in the hunt since they moved to their house.

They're really big on the religious aspect, though. I don't pressure it; it's a big thing for them, though, since they're super religious (compared to myself). I actually heard an interesting explanation today for the eggs and the bunny and all that, but I have forgotten it. It was something I had never heard before, and really integrated the religious part of Easter.

As I got older, it got less exciting. Now that my sister "knows", we just get some candy handed to us (which I still don't mind), and we go up there to visit, and sometimes hide eggs. We eat, and today, I overindulged in desserts. Turns out that berry flavored cheesecake tastes REALLY good with actual strawberries mixed in. *wipe drool*

Now I've got a presentation to polish, a bibliography to write, and some sleep to get before my presentation tomorrow. I also have an economics exam on Tuesday, plus all my internship stuff....and I need to see if I can meet with my field advisor on another day. It's going to be a busy week, but I keep reminding myself that after 2 more weeks, I'll be in my FINAL SEMESTER of my undergraduate degree. YAY :D