Easter traditions

It's Good Friday, and today we were supposed to be in Buffalo and heading to Cleveland to celebrate Easter with my grandparents. Because we had to go into Buffalo last month suddenly, we couldn't make the Easter trip. It was certainly the right decision to go into Buffalo last month, but I'm sad that we're spending Easter by ourselves and not with my grandparents and mom. Growing up, we often went to Cleveland for Easter and I have nice memories. It's a good opportunity to visit family.

So this weekend is about finding our own "traditions," a common theme during our time here in Boston. The question, of course, is whether we should try to duplicate what we ourselves did while we were growing up, or whether we should just go with the flow and create traditions out of whatever happens. In some ways, I think it is impossible to duplicate old family traditions, because it's impossible to repeat things that have already happened with people who are far away or gone all together.  But I suppose there are some things we can duplicate - the Easter basket, dressing up in nice clothes, a nice dinner, perhaps going to a church service of some sort.

In a way, our "tradition" for Easter when we spend it in Boston has been pretty low-key. I'd have never believed it when I was a little kid, but when you're an adult, the Easter Bunny doesn't have the same allure! And going out and buying a frilly dress to wear to Easter mass and brunch just doesn't happen. But now we have Annie, so perhaps some of those traditions will come out of hiding. It's as if there's a clean slate at the moment, since we haven't ever done anything special for Easter when it's just been us in Boston. It's imposing. At the moment, we spend just about every holiday there is in Buffalo, so we don't have a great track record of creating our own traditions. That's going to have to change as Annie gets older, so I guess Easter is a good start. I don't want the only tradition she knows to be getting in a car and going somewhere else.

We are having friends over for dinner, and this is the second year that we've had dinner with them on Easter. Last year, Easter dinner was my last real meal before I had Annika. I went into the hospital the next day. I remember coming home from the hospital the following Saturday and still seeing the cooling racks on the counter from when I had made cupcakes for Easter dinner. It was a bizarre experience, because it seemed so long ago. This year, I think we're going to cook out shish kabobs on the grill.

Today the weather is going to be beautiful. I'm hoping to get outside with Annika, and I'm also hoping to put together a little Easter basket for her.