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Instead of the chocolate thing, you could always do the traditional hand painted eggs thing they do in a lot of orthodox churches. Not only are they pretty, but they dont contain lots of sugar, a lot of though and creativity goes into the design of the eggs, they last longer and they are thoughtful. Did i mention they are pretty? And you can get the whole family involved which is another upside.

I do enjoy doing eggs with the kids. My kids look forward, too. I think it's the fun part of Easter.

Holidays are generally work days for me so over the years I've ever so slowly ignored them as best I can. Easter never was celebrated by my family growing up and I never could relate the bunnyto the ressurection of the Lord Christ. Gets acknowledged but downlayed. BUT -- was slightly surprised when my daughter did not even call her mother (Ruth). Haven't seen grand-son since Christmas and starting to get comfortable about it. Not a good thing.

Your venting nevers bothers me. You should see me when I really get worked up. Not a pretty sight and no glory to God.

If you have trouble with talkers, you should sit in my weekly IPT (Integrated Product Team) meeting. That's the whole team every Monday going through the actions and issues. Just came back from it actually. Loud talkers, talkers that never stop, people quibbling, people putting in plugs for their work, people critiquing other's work, and placing blame elsewhere. Everyone has an agenda, and the meeting probably lasts twice as long as it should and it cuts into people's lunch time. But you got to give people time to discuss and be human. These are human activities and I've grown numb and relax and just listen. I've grown to accept humanity.

I think it's getting harder and harder to rear children in a non-material way, holiday or not. The other day a little boy came to preschool showing off the $5 he got for losing a tooth. Fortunately most of my preschoolers like silver better than paper so the little girl who only got a quarter could have cared less.
On Easter when I was growing up, I always got to visit the Easter Bunny and have my picture taken. I always got a little Easter basket with a chocolate bunny, jelly beans and some peeps and sometimes have an Easter egg hunt. If we were near relatives (I was an Army brat), they would usually send all of us kids to a movie to get us out of their hair. I never took my boys to see the Easter Bunny that I can remember and the only thing different about their Easter baskets was I would put in bubbles or a squirt gun or a pinwheel along with the chocolate bunny and jelly beans. I always cooked Easter dinner for my husband's family (mine live in California) and we would have an egg hunt for all the kids. It was so much fun. I love Easter. So, don't worry MH. Just stick to your own traditions. Your children might write about them someday. NIAMH: I watched a lady do those eggs on TV. I really want to try that.

Yeouch! I'm not keen on Easter either, but from a different perspective which I won't get into here. Sounds like you need a little you time, but perhaps you'll feel better when the test is over. Chill, drink wine, write some poetry or something, anything to take your mind off it, and feel better

Yeah, I see what you mean about holidays and gifts. That's how it is today. Someone in my class asked me if my parents were doing something for me for Easter (chocolate) and I said no cause well I'm not even a little kid, and the guy seemed surprised. I have no problem with those who offer things to kids and I have no problem either with those who do not, that's no big deal. It's just like Christmas in a way, I've always found it strange that families like mine who are not Christian celebrate Christmas, it is strange and maybe kind of insulting towards the believers. I don't know, I feel ill at ease with that, as if we were taking advantage of it, but I still celebrate it with my family and get presents. Oh God I agree with you so much about people who speak too loud, that pisses me off. I have a teacher like that. He has interesting things to say though, but I wish he could say them in a softer way, cause I often startle in his class.

When did Easter presents become the thing to do? I don't recall getting presents at Easter. I got an Easter basket with candy in it. And then we did an easter egg hunt AFTER church. And it was always made clear to me that Easter was about the resurrection and not candy. Actually, the candy thing started to get on my nerves because I always associated Easter with candy stomach aches followed by the grody food you described. I don't understand why people have to ruin green beans by putting them in lard. WTH??? I can fully understand why you want to puke. And what is up with these idiots who call out to children or say dumb things to them. You feel sorry for the child, who is usually politely trying to respond to and respect their elder or just unsure what to do about. Yep, it's a puke fest for sure.

Yeah, I never got Easter presents. That's rediculous. A chocolate egg is one thing but beyond that it's spoiling kids. and I can tell kids are way more spoiled than when I was growing up. (Yes I'm heading to be a real crotchity old man. ) What happen to the religious message?

I hate it when you're in a bad mood! Anyway, candy isn't so bad and it wasn't THAT much candy, so lay off.
I will get the water bottles when the less expensive ones get here and I'll get the hats and sun block, too. Loud talkers, huh? Veggies floating in sugar and butter, huh? Remember when your grandmother made carrots for you and Sarah? They were the favorite of both of you. She baked them with butter and brown sugar and neither of you would eat them. I always roasted them with nothing added or just put them in with a roast and you guys loved them. I hope that if it was my other grandchild who said that about "all you guys got" you had a little talk with him....I'm sure it was. BTW, the little bunnies were small and inexpensive..just a little remembrance from my growing up years. Next year, I'll bring them some baby blue and green chicks and they can raise them, ok?
Also, do what we did. Start your own traditions. We never when home on holidays. We went the week before or after, but spent them at home together and had a good time. (At least you guys acted like you had a good time.)

It's the same with Easter as it is with Christmas. I find it thoroughly disgusting that even the church has succumbed to the corporate side of these holidays, and were forgetting the true meaning behind what could be an extremely spiritual and uplifting time. My baby cousin had the Easter bunny at church the othe day... I don't understand...

I, personally, beleive that presents should be spur of the moment, heartfelt little tidbits, as opposed to the obligatory crap that happens a lot.

We never "celebrated" Easter in my family. It was observed but not thought to be something to make jolly over like Xmas - guess that is probably the repressed Calvinist roots coming through. We painted eggs & rolled them down the hill, but that was to symbolise the moving of the stone. We got Hot Cross Buns but again that was due to the religious symbolisation. There was certainly none of that dreadful Pagan imagery like the easter bunny

Oh my! Shalot hit the nail on the head there with the green beans with lard comment. When I moved to the South I was horrified that the Thanksgiving meal was corrupted with meat in every dish except the sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes. I don't even eat that much candy, and have always understood the symbolism of the bunny and easter eggs. Easter is the Holiday to celebrate death and renewal. Plants die in the fall, and are rejuvenated in the spring. Hence the basket with the faux grass (a little play on the words faux grois). Hey do they still sell faux grass in Chicago? I heard it was banned. Oh well, I must be losing it. My mother stayed at my house while I was on my trip, and now there are old bills mixed with new bills. I can't find anything where it should be, and I'm completely overwhelmed with the lack of organisation in my mother's organisation. All of my electronic things which were placed in cubby holes are now in a pile and I have to sort my computer stuff from the old phone things, and the laptop from home computer things, and I don't have time to pick up after her. Bah! Its OK to rant MH. We all do it sometimes. I'm glad you have an outlet. How are the kids by the way?

Ooops. I just read Kilted Exile's comment about the "dreadful imagery" of the Easter Bunny. I think Kilt is afraid of bunnies. I have this image of him running away from Bugs Bunny while the Wagnerian "Kill da Wabbit! Kill da Wabbit! Kill da Wabbit!", echoes through the forest. LOL Poor thing Kilt. You still my hero Shrek.

We never "celebrated" Easter in my family. It was observed but not thought to be something to make jolly over like Xmas - guess that is probably the repressed Calvinist roots coming through.

Not sure that's just Calvinist. I'm a Roman Catholic and we didn't exactly have a jolly time and give presents on Easter. We did celebrate in the sense that we had a more elaborate dinner and we could finally eat meat after the few days of fasting from it. Oh and we could finally have what we had given up for the 40 days of lent. Which did usually mean candy. Perhaps that's how this stupid chocolate eggs and rabbits gving thing started.