It's Easter Week --- But It's Not about Bunnies

At the risk of putting it all out there, well, today, I’m putting it all out there.
Ahem. OK, here it goes: Ladies and gentlemen, it is once again Easter.
Man, do I love Easter! The colors, the grandeur, the absolute regality of it all. The scents, the celebration of life, the concept of forgiveness and redemption. All good stuff. Because, contrary to popular opinion, here’s what Easter is NOT about:

・ An oversized walking (upright on his hind legs, mind you), talking (in perfect English, by the by) rabbit who leaves mountains of hidden candy and colorful eggs for all the world’s children — which he, of course, left for them the prior night;

・ Slow-roasted honey-baked ham, turkey, brisket or roast beast — and freshly made rolls, natch;

・ Homemade lasagna (or stuffed shells), wedding soup (complete with homemade croutons) and smashed garlic (or sometime cheesy) potato casserole;

・ Ricotta cheesecake, ciambella cookies (think of them as Easter bread in the shape of a doughnut and without icing), and 18,547 other types of dessert (most of them Easter and / or spring themed);

・ Spoiling your kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews and even parents with way too much chocolate-based food sources as well as the perennial holiday faves jellybeans (I’m partial to Brach’s jelly birds), caramel, peanut butter and / or creme-filled eggs — this includes bunnies, chickies, crosses and, of course, about a billion different types of chocolate eggs.

And while I may be guilty of indulging in some of those “not about” activities (OK, fine, ALL of them), that’s still not the true meaning of Easter, just as Christmas is not about a chubby old guy in some odd red suit with too much white facial hair who guides some supersonic sleigh powered by a baker’s dozen of deer dropping gifts down chimneys for those same kiddos mentioned above. And for all of ’em. Even the naughties, you dig?

Oh, and yes, just like his bunny buddy, he accomplishes this all in a single evening. Um, huh?

Frankly, it’s not about flowers blooming, trees sprouting leaves or those stupid crocuses popping up everywhere but my bathroom sink, either. Sheesh, those purple buggers are all over. I digress.

Nope, none of the above is the reason for this day.

Truthfully, I love seeing flowers (even the dumb kinds) bloom. And while I’m being transparent and all, I suppose I did get tons of candy for my kid (yes, I realize he’s 22) and, of course, I made homemade sauce, meatballs, stuffed shells and garlic-smashed potato casserole.

OK, fine, so I love indulging the fam — but still, none of that is directly correlative to Easter, a’ight?

Today is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Period.

It’s about a God so forgiving that he sent his Son to right all our MANY, MANY wrongs.

Let’s face it, we humans can be big boneheads sometimes. And still the Lord laid down his life for us; just as his Father asked Him to.

I know I’d lay down my life for my Kyle, and his dad, and all my family members and friends. As least, I hope I would, push come to shove … or crucifixion. But would I do it for a bunch of random strangers, some of whom aren’t exactly pillars of society? Or even support beams, capisce?

I want to believe I would. All I know is, I’m a huge JC fan, as well as his Father and that wonderful, beautiful dove who always calms me down when I’m totally freaking out — you know, the Holy Spirit.

And celebrating the resurrection of Christ and thanking Him to pay the tab for all our messiness — well, we should be doing that every day. OK, maybe with a little less chocolate.

Happy Easter, y’all!

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