Easter is Coming! Easter is Coming!

Easter is a strange holiday.  1/3 Pagan, 1/3 Christian, and 1/3 Commercialized, which leaves tons of room for weird traditions to emerge.  For the longest time I didn't like the holiday.  Even though the day was described to me when I was a child as being Christ's resurrection from the dead it never made sense.  Why look for eggs and have a visit from the Easter Bunny if Christ was raised from the dead on that day? And why ham for the main meat...wasn't Jesus born a Jew who couldn't have pork?  When the whole egg hunt and bunny became too "kiddie" for me and my siblings the holiday changed to just a day that you dressed up in ugly pastels, go to church and then come home and eat a lot of food.

I guess what really didn't make sense was that I do believe that Christ was raised from the dead on that day (or at least close to it), and I think that that is AMAZING, but I don't understand why it is such a dull holiday with such bland colors and bland gastronomy.  His birth is a celebration that can't be beat, but that is just half of the story. Easter is the coming together of all Christ's suffering, love, teaching, and then sacrifice for our LIFE both now and after death!  Doesn't it seem odd to you that it is not a bigger celebration even amongst Christians? Why don't we give gifts at this holiday? Why not spend a little extra dough to eat lamb or like some Christians do (which I'm thinking about doing myself), fast to remember his sacrifice, and then feast to remember his gift and his desire for us to have a full-filled life?

As you can tell I want to be pro-active on this subject even more so now that I have a child.  I don't want him to think that Christ's resurrection was something forgettable like those disguising little marshmallow chicks.   Instead, I want him to look forward to celebrating such a wonderful gift.  I want him to make a string of rings counting down till it comes, and have a hard time sleeping the night before because he is so excited.  That is how I would love this wonderful holiday to be seen in his eyes, not how I saw it when I was his age but as something awe-inspiring.  No bunnies allowed.