Easter Bunny Hop

I know that I have a lot of blogging about Cambodia to do, but I will wait until I return to Hanoi.

In the meantime, I must pay homage to my FAVORITE holiday of the year...Easter.

When most people hear that Easter is my favorite holiday they look at me as if I am crazy. "How" they ask, "can that be?"

It is no secret that I am obsessed with chocolate and that Easter has the best holiday chocolates. Mini eggs are my kryptonite and my college roommates would laugh at the fact that they'd hear me reaching into my bag of mini eggs (see picture above) at all hours of the day and night....the familiar crinkle crinkle of the paper and then the crunch crunch crunch...I sleep with my bag of mini eggs (This is the first year that I haven't had my beloved mini eggs coming up to Easter.)...but this isn't why Easter is my favorite holiday

I am aware that it deviates from the norm...Easter doesn't really offer the same excitement that you feel on Christmas morning, nor does it usually promote the "family togetherness and tradition" that we experience each Thanksgiving and unlike 4th of July there are no fireworks and barbecues.

Perhaps my love of Easter stems from my personal connection to the holiday, and the traditions that my own family created.

I have always been rather spoiled, but Easter showcased that more than most other days. Every Easter morning (this is to date) I wake up and open my bedroom door, there is a trail of mini eggs leading down the hallway, down the stairs, through the house and then to my massive Easter basket overflowing with chocolate delights. We all know that chocolate is my first love and that I can't function properly without a daily dose. I've often thought that life without chocolate may not be worth it, and in hypothetical questions "would you rather give up .... or chocolate" the former always gets booted. Nothing, NOTHING comes between me and my devotion to chocolate.

I digress. So I come upon my Easter basket, which obviously has mini eggs but then of course has the traditional BRITISH Easter eggs (see picture above), not these ridiculously stupid plastic American ones. British Easter eggs are massive, huge hollow chocolate egg shaped with packets of sweets (Maltesers, smarties, flakes, crunchies etc) inside of them. It's like crack to me. My body goes into spastic ecstatic overdrive and I usually gobble down the entire basket within half an hour.

After that's taken place it's time to get ready for church and Easter brunch. I won't pretend to like church (sorry) but I do like what everyone wears. Pastels, sundresses, hats, sandals. it's pretty, bright, cheerful and lovely.

After church it's time for brunch. When I was younger we'd all pile in the car and drive for an hour to Indian Creek in Miami, which is to date the most beautiful club I've ever been too and the buffet there is better than any I've ever had anywhere. I've longed dreamed of having my wedding there but that's a completely different story. At Indian Creek we'd rush across the massive sprawling lawn for the Easter egg hunt and once that was completed we'd sit down at the beautifully decorated tables awaiting the go ahead to ravage the buffet bar...seafood, meat, sides and amazing desserts...one massive plate for each. Once we finished eating we had free reign on the club and I'd rush around to the petting zoo, the face painting station, and when I got old enough, zipping around the property on a golf cart looking for cute boys and feeling OH SO COOL.

I don't know where the idea of not spending Easter with family came from because my family was always together...my grandparents, cousins, parents, aunts uncles, brother and any family friends. I often found myself engaged in conversation with my idol and sometime mentor, Gov. Edward King of MA, and to this day, I cherish those conversations and memories. When I got a little bit older, I was allowed to bring a friend (always Alison) with me to these brunches which made it all the more fun.

We stopped going to Easter at Indian Creek when I was about 21, but it was replaced by Easter at Pine Tree which was lovely as well. I wanted to hate it, because it wasn't the venue I adored, but the food was delicious and it was still filled with my boisterous, loving family.

I believe that the reason I feel so strongly about Easter is because it is a holiday that promotes nothing other than togetherness and love. That families are brought together in joy and celebration (with cute clothes and chocolate as well) but that there are no expectations of gifts. No fireworks or gimmicks. Just spending a lovely Sunday afternoon eating delicious food and enjoying each others company. It's so simple yet special.

This is the first year that I've been away from my family for Easter, making it the first pang of sadness and "feeling like I'm missing out" I've felt since journeying over to Asia.

Happy Easter to all, I truly wish I could be there with you.

PS-Don't feel too bad for me. I'm in Sihanoukville, Cambodia and have spent the last three days lounging on the beach with my friend Camilla so it's not like I'm crying alone in the cold