Why Easter kicks Christmas’s butt
Easter is the best!
Easter, unlike Christmas, has got to be my favourite religious holiday. Not that I’m at all religious, mind you, but I’m happy to buy in to the concept for the holidays! There are a few reasons for this, so in the interests of community service, I thought I’d put them out there.
Clearly, the first reason Easter is so butt-kicking is chocolate. Lots of it, and a licence to scoff it down for weeks after. In fact, if you are anything like me, you have a stash of Easter chocolate hidden around the house that’s good to go for at least 6 months. Yes, it might go all white, but it’s still edible!
Next, the weather starts getting cooler. I am a cold weather girl, and Easter for me, is a signal that the weather is taking a u-turn into winter. Easter is often the first time I light my gas heater for the year, and I put the electric blanket back on the bed. I get the slow cooker out of storage and start buying cheap cuts of meat for stews and such. At Easter, I start getting my carbs on!
One of the best things about Easter has to be hot cross buns. And I’m talking hot, dripping with butter. Whoever invented them should be made a saint, as far as I’m concerned. And while people say that fruit toast is an excellent substitute – at the risk of being labelled a purist – I am here to tell you that it is not!
Unlike Christmas, Easter is all about the long weekend. Four glorious days off. Four. In a row. Count them. No wonder people pack their bags and head off into the sunset over Easter. It’s because they can. They have time. I actually don’t go anywhere over Easter, though. I just potter around the house, chilling. I read, watch TV, write and just generally enjoy four days of paid down time.
I usually watch Jesus Christ Superstar at some point over the weekend, usually on Sunday night. To say I think it is the best musical ever made is an understatement. I know the whole thing off by heart, every part. I even have a JCS Playlist so I can run to it. But at Easter, I am mandated by society to watch it, so for four days, it is not a guilty pleasure. I watch it loud and proud! And despite what I said in the first paragraph, Easter is a religious holiday after all 😉
Finally, and just about more important than all the other reasons put together, there are no family expectations tied up with Easter. There are so many family politics involved with Christmas (in my family anyway), that bowing out of Christmas and pretending it doesn’t exist is the only sane way to cope. Easter is not like that for me. I don’t have to fend off questions about what I’m doing for Christmas and who I’m spending it with. The pressure is off!
So there you have it. These are the reasons I think Easter kicks Christmas’s butt. What do you reckon? Am I onto something?
Because I’m in the US. Easter signals the beginning of spring. I love Easter for the feeling of newness, the new green, spring flowers and the chance to putter in my garden. 🙂
I think the change of seasons is divine: both winter to spring, and summer to autumn. September is also a gorgeous month in Australia for exactly the same reason Easter is lovely in the US. Enjoy your spring!
Now that I live in Canberra Easter means a drive to Sydney for the Easter show. I still prefer the Ekka in Brisbane, the Sydney one is okay.
In other news, it also means a trip to try new restaurants 🙂
If you try any squid, you know what to do! 😉
Indeed 🙂
I do indeed 🙂
A great, secular, reasoning why this break is great. As you, I’m not religious but the story of Easter is huge. Even if one leaves out the whole “son of god, resurrection” thing it’s amazing.
Imagine sitting at a dinner where a guy says “I’m screwed. They’re coming to get me, and they’re gonna kill me. And it was one of you guys who’ve handed them up to me. But it’s all cool, just remember to do what I asked you. Try not to be bad to each other.” Not that we (religion included) have always been good at that.
I’m not religious, but I married that way. And it’s just hard to ignore the story.
Thanks for a nice, balanced post. I don’t get to miss out on the family stuff quite as easily as you do, though.
You are right, Cullen, it’s a really cool story. And the musical is just brilliant, and tells the tale so well. Even for non-religious people, the betrayal and politicking makes it archetypal and oh, so relatable. PS mountains of chocolate more than compensates for mandatory family-related activities. 😉