Easter is an entirely unique holiday. Unique is good, especially when talking about holidays. Easter doesn't promise the gifts that Christmas brings or the visions of walking romantically down snow-dusted sidewalks that Valentine's Day entertains.
Most people think of Thanksgiving as the go-to holiday for eating until your fat pants"" don't fit anymore. Easter's binge potential is underestimated. Easter Sunday is usually associated with a ham dinner and all the fixin's. My family managed to suppress the all-out bingeing Easter celebration until about seven years ago.
My immediate family wasn't too religious when I was growing up. My sister and I usually attended church with my aunt. My parents and two youngest siblings just joined us whenever we had performances or parties, but that was it. We stopped going to church for awhile after my aunt and parents had an argument that caused them to temporarily part ways.
When I was in seventh grade, however, my mom wanted to go to church. So she talked with her old pastor and we started going to services again. She wanted to get my siblings and me baptized - all four of us at the same time, which was a pretty epic move in my opinion. Usually, baptisms happen with one or two babies at a time. Easter Sunday of 2002 was different - those in the packed pews of Faith Lutheran Church witnessed a baptism of 12-year-old me alongside my 10-year-old, 7-year-old and 5-year-old siblings.
Besides everyone officially welcoming me to the church, the one thing I distinctly remember about that day is the food. Before the actual service on Easter Sunday, my family and I ate to our hearts' content at our church's annual potluck breakfast. After the service was over, we snacked on a few pieces of candy from our baskets while watching movies the 'Easter Bunny' left us. Finally, to cap off the celebration, we sat down to a hearty, traditional Easter dinner of ham, mashed and sweet potatoes, Jell-O eggs and, my personal favorite, broccoli in cheese sauce.
Maybe the mundane campus atmosphere and absence of my mom's homemade pancakes and sausage is why Easter really isn't a big deal for me now, even though my mom tries to make up for it by putting on the classic film ""Here Comes Peter Cottontail."" Or maybe it's because this year, my spring break was a month earlier than my siblings' (theirs begins the Friday before Easter).
Either way, I'm excited to go home this weekend for a small break from school, though I'll be working on a paper. As I'm devouring as many slices of ham, rolls and fuchsia-colored Starburst jelly beans as possible (and bringing the rest back to campus with me), I'll think about my baptism, as I always do.
Whatever you celebrate this weekend, whether at home or on campus, participate in the true coming of spring, and take advantage of the candy sales at the local drugstore.
If you have an insatiable hunger for Jell-O eggs and baked ham, or feel nostalgic for Peter Cottontail movies, e-mail Caissa at casarez@wisc.edu.
