I’m editing the photos from our family Easter party last weekend and behind me, my daughter is bouncing on my bed.  She’s holding wrapping paper for her birthday presents that I rushed out to buy last night.  Her birthday and Easter are very close this year. During my shop, I also found Easter Bunny presents.

Like, seriously guys?  Even if you don’t celebrate Easter, you might want to check out the little stuffed Peep toys.  So damn cute.

And what do Peeps have to do with real Easter, you know, the whole “reason for the season” business?  Pretty much nothing but I don’t care about that and not because I don’t know because in a few hours, I’ll be giving myself a pedicure in anticipation for the feet washing at church tonight (and I’m freaked to the nines about it).

These photos of my family party have tons of plastic and sugar in them and dollar signs for what was purchased in the name of Easter.

Also… There’s my son, holding hands with his second cousin and smiling.  There’s my daughter swinging with her aunt. There’s my uncle, discussing the newest book that his grandson is reading.  I see all my cousins, sitting around the table and doing their best to ignore their children so they can get reacquainted with each other.

That last one is a new scene but completely familiar to us because only a few years ago, that was our parents trying to ignore us.

My uncle finds a half-dollar in the yard, covered in dirt and bird poo, from last year’s Easter party while he’s hiding this year’s eggs.  He hands it to me and despite my extreme bird fear, I cherish it because I know that’s not from last year’s Easter party, it’s a sign that my Grandpa is here, watching all of us and reveling in the fact that we’re still having Easter parties, all of us together.

I see a photo that I took in my mom’s kitchen, as the uncles were hiding the eggs outside and all the kids were waiting in there.  They’re lined up by age with the big kids in the back.  In the photo, the big kids are wrestling with each other and in the middle is my son and my cousin’s daughter, sneaking a peak out the window so they can memorize all the hiding spots, and in the front is my daughter, the current youngest.  She’s holding my mom’s hand.

My mom tells me later that my daughter turned to her, while waiting in the kitchen, and with a huge smile on her face said “I’m so excited Gamma!”

Will you allow me to be mushy here?  I assume if you made it to this point, you’re comfortable with that sort of stuff.  This weekend, I wish you a happy Easter or Passover (or both?) and if that doesn’t apply to you, I guess I could cover it all with “Enjoy the love” and I hope it’s without judgement because whatever form it takes, most of it is pretty good.