I’ve lived in the US long enough to enjoy various holidays. I especially like Thanksgiving and I can even get into the Christmas spirit. But Easter has never really been my thing. I never understood why people painted hard boiled eggs and then hid them from small children.
But I’m learning. Jenny likes Easter, so we usually go to Church and yesterday we had a little Easter brunch even. But I’m still left a little confused by the Easter bunny. What does the Easter bunny have to do with Christ’s resurrection?
My friend Laura posted this photo of two bunnies on her facebook page the other day.
Her facebook friends got a good laugh, but I was confused. “I don’t get it,” I wrote.
Laura wrote back, “You’ve been in this country too long to use the ‘I wasn’t raised here’ excuse.”
But I didn’t even use that excuse this time, I pointed out to Laura. “And I really don’t get it. Please explain.”
Laura explained that someone bit off the first chocolate bunny’s butt so he tells his friend that his butt hurts, but someone had already bitten off the second bunny’s ears, so he can’t hear the first bunny’s complaint.
Okay, now this was all starting to make sense. I appreciated her explanation, especially the part about the bunny who could not hear anymore. I also didn’t realize they were chocolate bunnies, which was my first problem. Even Laura gave me a pass, “the fact that you didn’t realize they were chocolate explains your confusion,” she wrote.
I may not have known they were chocolate, but I did wonder why the bunnies were brown. I thought it was some kind of Easter bunny diversity thing.
Leaving Pakistan 
Surina, back when Jenny and I were young, the bunnies would range from just an inch or two to huge ones (if you had rich or indulgent parents). Sometimes they were white chocolate… Ahem… My brother and I ALWAYS ate the ears first. Ears first, then the little tail. They were always hollow. And then we had chocolate covered matzos from Barton’s! Spring holidays rocked!
Bev and I took Stella to the White House Easter Egg Roll. Awesome event. Stella had a blast. We spent Easter weekend in Maryland with Bev’s family. Since I haven’t celebrated Easter for many moons, I had forgotten how big a production it is in our extended families. Easter baskets. Egg dyeing and hunting. A special Easter meal. (Loved that part.) It brought me back to when I was a kid, dressed up for church on Easter morning in my Easter bonnet. What we had this year that I will now deeply value and honor – even as I dismiss the religious aspect – is the extended family togetherness that the holiday brings, which is already so embraced by Stella.