Easter

Let me start by saying that my Mom knew how to do holidays.  Every holiday involved a huge production.  Decorations, presents, food, games with prizes.  Every holiday was an all day affair.  It also was very materialistic.  For example, for Easter we would get our entire summer wardrobe, plus outside toys, plus candy.  Then we would play games and win more stuff.  It was awesome as a kid, but I just can't do it now...

You see I try really hard not to buy extra crap.  I hate spending money on stuff that I know the kids won't still be using a few months later.  I hate that I end up taking bags of stuff to GoodWill, and that I throw bags of other stuff in the trash.  I also hate HAVING to buy stuff.  Every year I buy less stuff because it is the socially accepted thing to do.  Even at Christmas I have been trying to take it easy.

So it is no surprise that Easter which really shouldn't be materialistic at all drives me crazy today.  Truly a basket with a bit of candy and a big chocolate bunny should be enough, but it isn't.  People get their kids bicycles, ds games, movies, swingsets, etc.  It seems that it is an excuse to give your kids a bunch of spring/summer junk.  Well, I can't do it...

I was lucky because my girls decided to make baskets for each other this year.  So I set a budget of $50 and made them stick to it.  They did an awesome job.  Curly Q. bought clothes for Bear because Bear trusts her to pick out "cool" stuff.   She also gave her things like lip gloss and perfume.  Bear made a basket full of art supplies which Curly Q. LOVES.  Of course they also put a healthy amount of candy, and a giant chocolate bunny in the baskets.  PERFECT!

Of course there is also the egg hunt.  When I was a kid we would have a giant egg hunt.  Dozens of eggs were hidden around the backyard.  Most were filled with candy, but there were also special eggs.  The special eggs won the finder a prize of some sort because of course a giant basket of stuff wasn't enough.  The prizes ranged from board games to a 3 lb solid chocolate egg, but I just can't do it...

In order to not be a bah humbug I did buy one dozen eggs and a bag of mini peanut butter cups.  The plan was to hide them around the backyard, and then let the girls could re-hide them for each other several times.  Of course my mom got wind of this and showed up with an extra couple dozen eggs.  So the girls had about 3 dozen eggs filled with candy and coins to search for in the back yard.

The last part of holidays is one of my favorite parts.  FOOD!  I love to cook, but of course everyone ha their own ideas about the traditional fare for each holiday.  My husband, who is from Iowa originally, can't have a holiday without ham.  Usually his parents are at our house for each holiday too, adn they feel the same as him.  We even have to cook both a ham and a turkey on Thanksgiving!!!  For some reason, this year I just couldn't do it...

I don't really like ham, and I wasn't in the mood to cook it.  Since my in-laws weren't coming I took the opportunity to skip the ham.   They had pork shoulder on sale at the store, and although I had heard of it, I had never cooked it.  So for Easter dinner we had roast pork shoulder (which was unbelievably delicious), gravy (which was as delicious as the pork), purple mashed potatoes (which tasted just like regular mashed potatoes but were made with purple potatoes, apple chutney (which made a 50/50 split as to who liked it), asparagus (my favorite veggie),  fennel apple salad (which was bland due to bland fennel), and deviled eggs (gotta do something with the dyed eggs).  All in all the meal was good, and it was fun to try some new things.

So Easter was pretty good.  Definitely not the Easter of my youth, but I did what I could and took help for the rest.  At least we are done with the materialistic holidays for a while.  Although I am sure my mom will figure out a reason for a Memorial Day present...