The lengths I will go to.

I am very happily sitting here drinking some coffee and enjoying the fact that it is still so light out even though the clock tells me it is almost time for the 8 pm news. It is something different to be excited about today, because the fact that it is Easter does not mean much to me. I have pretty much ignored that celebration, although I suppose it would have been different if I still had small kids.

When I was young, we celebrated it according to Saxon tradition because of where we lived and that was a lot of fun. We decorated a cross with a horizontal circle on it signifying the sun. On top of it was put a rooster signifying fertility made of bread wi raisins for eyes. On the four wind directions of the circle were put oranges and strings of candy eggs were hung between them.

The cross and the circle were decorated with twigs from a bush that was illegal to harvest, but my Dad did it anyway because he wanted me to win first place in the competition. A nest was made inside the sun circle where we placed real painted eggs in straw. I have pictures of me walking in the parade that followed the competition and I look both proud and confused for getting second place, although I thought that was a high enough honor.

I tried to get excited about the god awful way Easter was celebrated in The States when my kids were little, but I never learned to like it. I hated the choices of the frilly, pastel colored dresses for the girls and the fact that the boys had to wear little suits and ties. And then those really horrible Easter baskets with that overdose of chocolate! Not to mention the terrible overdose of Christianity. I am so glad that I do not have to experience that anymore. I look back with distaste at that time.

 

Actually, most of my American time is an embarrassment to me and often I wish it had never happened, but I suppose I learned valuable lessons from it, though god knows I might have learned them another way. I am so relieved to be back here in my own country again where I belong, amongst people who think like I do.

 

I am counting on the fact that tomorrow the stores will be open, even though it will be Second Easter Day. I need to buy some food that I can eat without my stomach going into an uproar. The vegetable soup is just not cutting it.