Easter 2013

Easter is one of my favorite holidays of the year.  The services throughout Holy Week are rich with tradition, as are the liturgies on Easter Sunday.  There is something glorious in the proclamation "Christ is risen, He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!", followed by the singing of the amazing hymns proclaiming Christ's victory over the grave.  The one thing I missed this year (and last year, for that matter) was playing with the brass ensemble to accompany the liturgy.  Ah well, there's always next year!

We started our Easter celebration a little early by participating in the church egg hunt Saturday morning.  This was Judith's first year searching for eggs, and she actually did really well (and got a really nice haul!).  This year there was an extra bonus, as one of the members brought a bunch of her show rabbits for the kids to look at and pet.  Judith spied a beautiful brown bunny when we went inside the church, and immediately called it a "doggie" (the rabbit was on a harness, so I think that's where the association came from).  Once she realized it was a rabbit, she kept saying "hop hop!"

I felt a little sad that evening, because it was the first year in a long time that I didn't attend Easter Vigil services.  I took Judith last year, and it was a nightmare because she did not want to be in the sanctuary and was an overtired, cranky mess.  I told John that there was no way I was going to tempt fate this year, and decided to keep her home so we could observe a normal bed time.  I made up for it, though, by watching the masses from the Vatican and the basilica in Washington, DC.

Easter Sunday was not a chaotic mess for once.  John had to get up early for the sunrise service (his last one, thank goodness), but Judith and I were able to take our time getting ready since we planned to take separate cars so Judith would only have to sit through 1 service and would still be able to fit in all of her extra vest and breathing treatments that she needs right now.  I was bummed because I didn't have a voice and couldn't sing the hymns, but otherwise it was the service I expected it to be.

After church, my parents came to our house for Easter lunch.  We placed some eggs in the front yard for Judith to hunt, and she found and sifted through her Easter baskets.  I was impressed that she didn't melt down too much toward the end of the day, considering it was somewhat busy with a lot of stimulation.