Easter traditions

As we approach Easter Sunday, I was wondering about traditions. More specifically, I was thinking about how weird my family traditions are at this time of year. Like many all over the world, we feel the need to do a few things every year, without fail, to celebrate the holiday where a giant bunny hides candy all over the house.

We have three traditions each year that I can’t wait for, though they aren’t necessarily the most normal.

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One: The lamb cake. Now this is something that I think my grandmother used to do. It’s a 3D lamb cake (made from cake, not lamb…) and before we frost it, the thing kind of looks like a lamb. But why would we not frost it? Anyway, over the years, my mom would always get out the metal lamb mold, whip up the cake batter and make the lamb. However this cake has a serious design flaw—the neck is just too thin. So inevitably, each year the lamb is stood up and then its head falls off. This has happened so many times that it stopped being traumatic and is now the thing we wait for. Added bonus: Mom now makes the cake out of red velvet cake.

Photo: Golfdom Staff

Two: The giant bunny. We have a five foot stuffed bunny living in our attic. He was apparently the prize in a random raffle my mom entered my brother in when he was about 3 months old. My dad still turns red when telling the story of having to drive home with the stuffed bunny in the front seat of their 1980 brown Camaro because it didn’t fit in the trunk. Dad’s one happy memory from that is that he didn’t have to hang the ears out of the T-tops. I really wish Mom had thought to take a picture of dad rolling through town in his sports car with a stuffed pink rabbit. Oh yeah, it is also pink. The pink rabbit comes out of the attic once a year for a laugh, or scream. We have gotten into the tradition of hiding him somewhere unexpected in the hopes of scaring the crap out of whoever finds him. Last year, he worked out for a little bit on the bike, lurked behind doors and was a horrifying wake up call for my brother.

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Three: The Easter egg hunt. I really loved Easter when I was a kid because of the egg hunt. My parents, I mean the bunny, got really into hiding the eggs all throughout the house. Then they immediately forgot where they put them. Which was great because my brother and I were still finding eggs for several weeks afterwards. What wasn’t so hot was my Mom’s (Dad’s been blaming her for so long, it must be true) idea to hide hard-boiled, colored eggs too. As I said, they really got into hiding eggs, and usually a few got lost in the process. Moral of the story, don’t hide real eggs for the kids to find. If you really want to go down that road, two things: know where you put them and don’t put them anywhere where they could fall down an air vent. You’ll never forget the Easter you lose all the real eggs inside the house, or the next few months of “find the rotten eggs” that you will play with your kids.

No real lambs were harmed. All eggs were eventually found. The “bunnies” mentioned above have since retired their egg hiding skills and all hard-boiled eggs are now banned. Happy Easter everyone!

Photo: Golfdom Staff