Christos voskrese! Or your local equivalent

Hope everyone is enjoying the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.

I am glad this week is over. I always am. I can't adequately explain this to someone who is not part of the same little pocket culture, but this is bigger than Christmas. By several powers. And Katrina is already absorbing that. Yesterday she kept reminding me that "tomorrow is Pascha. And Pascha is the most important day of the year." Because I really needed the extra pressure. ;-)

I skipped out on a lot this year, to be honest. Only went to church once during Holy Week, and of course today. Today started at eleven, which was blissful after several years of stumbling around outside at six am with banners, candles, and way too many sleepy toddlers. (I kid you not. That church in Virginia Beach is serious. Ruthenians are hardcore.) We went to the basket blessing services yesterday, but just to sell lambs and raffle tickets and so the kids could do the egg hunt.

We didn't bring our own basket of ham, butter, eggs, horseradish, etc because I did not cook Easter dinner! Mom is out of town, dad doesn't care, Bruce is at work, and he and I finally realized that neither of us actually like the traditional dinner much anyway. So last night the kids and I went to the supper buffet at the Indian restaurant we like, and brought home takeout for today.

We did all right today, I suppose. Katrina was too excited to sleep past six this morning, so we did Easter baskets early. No one even noticed the bunny didn't bring any candy. Robs' favorite part is the plastic eggs you can open and close over and over.

Church was a mess. The kids were all wound up, it was packed downstairs, the choir loft was hot, and all the changeable parts for Liturgy were the same words (though sometimes in English and sometimes in Ukrainian) but with different melodies. We sang about five different settings of Christos voskrese ees mertvich, etc. today, and they were all just slightly different from the ones I've sing for the past eight years. It was crazy.

Got home, fed kids lunch, and got serious with the mimosas. I did drag Katrina on an almost three-mile walk this afternoon. She hasn't been falling asleep until after nine the past few nights, and it's wearing on all of us. Indian food for dinner (yay!), baths all around, and Katrina is already in bed. Robs is feeding his kitty Easter eggs right now, then I'll get him packed up. And mimosa day will draw to a nice, calm conclusion. Bruce should be home before nine.

I think kitty is done with her supper. Hope today treated you all well. Enjoy the improving weather, and try not to think about the Hugo Awards too much.