Easter Schmeaster

Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone has a wonderful day today, going to church, spending time with family and taking their kids on Easter egg hunts, yada yada yada. I appreciate the holiday for what it truly stands for and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Although, I'm not extremely religious, I am open minded enough to believe that this story could be true and I wasn't there to say that it isn't, so... Despite my religious affiliations (if I had to pick one, I'd have to say I'm Buddhist) I still respect and appreciate the holiday for what it stands for. What I don't respect is the damn Easter Bunny. What does a huge bunny that goes around and poops candy filled eggs in people's yards have to do with a dead guy coming back to life?
I'm sure there is some kind of far-fetched reason that links the bunny symbolically with the story of Jesus, but I didn't really feel like looking it up. It just seems like it would be, as I said before, pretty far-fetched.
I've never really worried about it too much until I had kids. I remember in my youth running waking up to a plastic grass filled basket with candy, jump ropes and coloring books. Then running around the yard to find the elusive hidden eggs. It was never too thrilling for me, except for the fact that my parents made finding the eggs a bit of a challenge by being very creative in where they hid them. The best part of the holiday was the fact that my Grandma would always take me out to get a fancy new Easter dress to go to church in. The time spent with her is what I cherish the most. That and the time I spent with the rest of my family who would all come over and feast on a delicious meal. I think that is what I like the most about any holiday, spending quality time with the people you love... and the food, the food is always delicious.
Now that I have children of my own, I'm expected to follow these same traditions. I still do some of them. I don't go to church like I used to, though. I hope my Grandma isn't too disappointed in me over that. I think she might understand, considering I'm thousands of miles away from the beautiful church that she used to take me to. It had huge, ornate columns everywhere, beautifully detailed stained glass windows on every wall, the service never lasted too long and it was accompanied by an amazing choir. I have yet to find a church like that here in Arizona. If I could just find a church with an outstanding gospel choir here, I would probably go. I'm sure to ask every bible thumper that comes to my door if they have a gospel choir and when they say no (as every one of them has) I say "No thank you. God Bless." I know that's not really what church is about, but for me, music touches me in a very spiritual way (which might be why I'm in a band) and it is important for me to have a church with amazing singers pouring their hearts out in song.
I tried out a church last year and the service consisted of the pastor (who couldn't have been more than a few years older than myself) trying desperately and with as much "evidence" he could muster about how Jesus really did die and come back to life. Unfortunately, he did just the opposite and very nearly convinced me that there is no way in Heaven or on Earth that this event could have ever taken place. Like I said before, I've never truly doubted the story, because I am very open to the possibility of extraordinary things in this world. And here I have this young guy failing miserably at convincing me about the "truth" of Jesus' resurrection. Also, the fact that he was so, so young really turned me off. I picture my pastor as a wise, old white haired man. Following up his speech he decided to play the most gruesome clips from "The Passion of The Christ". Epic Fail. It was so depressing. I thought this was a day to rejoice in His coming back to life, but instead we had to re-hash his darkest and most painful moments before and up to His death. It really put a damper on the day. And as I suspected, the service ended with a crappy "garage type" band playing non-traditional songs of praise (that I'm sure they wrote themselves) and we were supposed to sing along to; following the words projected on the same screen where we just saw Jesus being tortured. The best part of that Church going endeavor was that they served some pretty tasty biscuits and gravy before the service started.
Needless to say, I won't be going back to that church this year. I will, however, partake in the tradition of feasting and spending time with my family, which includes my two young children aged 5 and 6. I'm expected to get them a messy, non-earth friendly, grass filled basket of goodies and hide a bunch candy eggs around my yard, hoping my dogs don't decide to eat them. Some of you may think I'm a bad mom, but I can't bring myself to do this. First of all, it is completely meaningless and un-related to the true reason for the holiday. Secondly, there are children all over the world who go without the basic necessities and I am supposed to indulge my children in buckets of candy and cheap toys that will just end up in a land fill one day? No thank you, it just doesn't seem right. And lastly, I'm supposed to lie to my children about where all these meaningless and over-indulgent goodies came from. Which brings me back to that damn Easter bunny.
Easter is a religious holiday, yet society tells me to lie to my children about a giant, sneaky bunny. Well, the bible tells me not to lie. I feel bad enough lying to them about Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, but I can't bring myself to tell them the truth about those just yet.
So, here it is, Easter morning, and my kids wake up and don't find any baskets of candy and toys and don't see a yard dotted with colorful eggs. But you know what? They are still very happy. They are contently eating donuts (a little indulgence) and drinking orange juice right now. In a little while, they will help me finish the dessert we started last night and soon we will all head over to my Mom's house to spend time with family. They know what the holiday is about, not only did I tell them, but they actually did learn a couple things at the church we went to last year. Thankfully, they didn't have to sit and watch Jesus being tortured, because there was a different service for all the kids. But, regardless of the fact that the Easter bunny didn't  show up at our house this morning, my kids are still very happy and so am I. Not only do I not have to lie to them, but I also don't have to "feed the machine" and buy a bunch of useless, non Eco-friendly crap. Maybe next year we will try to go to church again, that is, if I can find one with that elusive choir.

i think of this clip every easters.. haha