colliemommie | Christos Voskres!

aka Happy Easter! Happy Passover! Happy First Sunday After the First Full Moon After the Vernal Equinox!

I feel like I didn't put as much into the Great Fast this year as I wanted to. I did manage to get to church most Wednesdays for Presanctified services, but otherwise I feel like the whole season rushed by. I realize that things are always crazy with a new baby, but I really was off my game. I got a dispensation from fasting because I'm nursing, but we avoided meat on Fridays and went to church for Presanctified on Wednesdays. I missed Internment Vespers on Friday, which was really disappointing; that's my favorite service of the whole year. But unfortunately one cannot explain that to a snotty baby with exploding diapers.

Yesterday Katrina colored eggs (not Ukrainian-style pysanky, but Easter eggs nevertheless) and helped me make lambs out of butter for Easter baskets at church. And this morning I dragged myself out of bed at 530 to get everyone up and out to make it to Liturgy. The pregame show, as Bruce calls it, started at 6am, but Father Alex, who obviously grew up with a huge family, told all of us with little critters just to get there when we get there. I thought Kat, Robbie, and I did well showing up right at 7. Most of the toddlers showed up after us.

After Liturgy we blessed Easter baskets (not the kids' candy type, but baskets with our ham, bread, lamb-shaped butter, horseradish with beets, colored eggs, wine, and other dinner food) and then had breakfast. After breakfast we had an Easter egg hunt outside for the little and medium-sized kids and then we finally got to go home a little after 10.

Ukrainians know how to Pascha.

We came home, woke Bruce up, and Katrina found the basket the Bunny left in her little cardboard hut while we were at church. She got some socks, bunny band-aids, a little stuffed rabbit, some Sleeping Beauty tights, and Cinderella on DVD. Mom sent her candy and she gets candy from the hunt at church, so the Bunny doesn't bring food treats. Then she watched Cinderella, ate a metric ton of canteloupe, and went for a nap.

So now everyone is napping while I tackle the final Easter tradition: drinking lots of mimosas. I just have to steam the asparagus and bake the croissants and supper is all ready: ham, cauliflower gratine, asparagus, croissants, baked sweet potatoes, and blanched snap peas. I'll send Bruce off to work with a tupperware and Kat and I will probably watch Cinderella again.

Hope everyone is having a great day, however and whatever you celebrate. :-)