HOLIDAYS

Holidays are important to our family. Since I was a child our family has made every effort to make holiday’s special occasions. Thank God they did and still do. The opportunity to see those I might not have seen for some time, to catch up on what they are doing, how many kids they have, who’s married to who, all provide me with mental snapshots of years gone by. Seemingly trivial stuff, yet oh so important in keeping families ties at full strength. Most of which I would not have without holidays.

Fortunately the trend continues. As always, Easter is special. Being Catholic, maybe it’s the religious aspect to the day but Easter has a way of reinforcing thoughts of what is really important in life. Unlike most holidays, everyone dresses up in a variety of pressed pants, dresses and pastels. The kids are scrubbed with slicked back hair. Everyone mingles.

Yesterday it was our son who hosted everyone. As usual, all were assigned a task. In our case we were to bring a salad and bake a cake. Terry specializes in cakes. She leans heavily toward pleasing the kids with a 3 layer blood sugar time bomb adorned with Sponge Bob, Wall-E, little cars and trucks and jelly beans. After a spirited Easter egg hunt, during which miraculously all the kids came up with about the same number of eggs, dinner, preceded by grace, was served.

As we drove home last night I had a warm feeling. Thankfully we all live close enough to have these gatherings and thankfully we have families that make the effort to continue them.