I Love Easter for Secular Reasons

When I was a little girl, I used to get the best mail in the house. For one thing, I never got bills! My Easter mail was especially fun because it often included copious amounts of chocolate in an endless variety of delivery systems (from cookies to bars to eggs to truffles to powder).

My cousin Virgie—who had been an Army nurse during WWII and was one of those larger than life role models every girl ought to have—introduced me to Hershey’s Kisses and when she could, she’d hand-deliver a giant one or a bag of little ones. If she wasn’t visiting, I knew the package with the St. Croix postmark meant chocolate kisses from my enabler.

Extended in-laws adopted me – the only child with a deep appreciation for chocolate – and gifted me with all the chocolate my little heart desired. My grandmother frowned on feeding her kids candy, but somehow indulged the adults who traveled to see me and present their offerings.

My maternal great- and great great-uncles took the same joy in giving me all I wanted as they did in spoiling my mother before me… 

My Mom made the most awesome Easter baskets. She did not put too much candy in there, though I had the requisite chocolate. Her baskets included toys and games, books and pencils, and accessories to go with my new Easter outfit.

To this day, she makes little baskets and she makes pretty cookies that make the kids (of ages that may go upwards of 90) go, “Wow!” The cookies, lollypops and chocolates she makes are labor intensive, but she loves doing it. Her baskets are labors of love.

Last year she tried to make cookie baskets, with a chocolate egg. The grass was coconut flakes with food coloring. The handles are made out of Twizzlers, but they were not as flexible as she thought they’d be. She was disappointed and even thought them a failure. The kids, on the other hand, did not care they were not perfect. What they saw when they opened the packages was far more beautiful than we can imagine. Their giggles were of delight not derision, and the sounds that followed also meant delight.

I will always love her, of course, but these cookies are only a tiny reason the woman who gave me life also has groupies (from toddlers to seniors)! 

So, I love Easter but for secular reasons, and they mostly have to do with chocolate, but also with cookies and my Mom and the idea that simple little things that you can do for others can bring a ton of joy. Mom does that for me every day, and for others several times a year. And nobody puts together a more exciting, sweet and beautiful Easter basket than her!