Good Friday

It’s day 3 of the April Arts Marathon!

Easter is nigh. This year, however, seems to be the year I am taking a break from celebrating any holidays. I gave Christmas almost a complete miss and made no new year’s resolutions. I think I ate something vaguely festive for Chinese new year. I grabbed a shamrock shake late in the day, didn’t give anything up for Lent. I did, however, eat a few hot crossed donuts from Donut Dip, have I mentioned my love of doughnuts? One of my favorite holidays is Nowruz on the spring solstice. I usually celebrate Nowruz by cooking a lovely herby pancake called Kuku Sabzi (what is in a name? It’s kuku!) and buying a few new goldfish for the tank. This year, I punted and promise to cook some another day, TBD. I no longer need to make Easter baskets or hide eggs at my particular stage of life. (My favorite Easter fell on April Fools…. All the plastic eggs contained black jelly beans). The only Easter I need to “make” nowadays is for my mother in law, who still enjoys celebrating. We will dip some eggs and go out to eat.

For a minute yesterday, I considered waiting in line at one of our local candy kitchens like I did when I had a small child. I hankered for the feeling of walking out of the little house with three more kinds of candy than I came in for and of the giddy guilt of having spent too much money on sugar. The guilt is key, because I know whatever candy I buy, it has the potential to grace our counter until Halloween, or in some cases, years. Lingering evidence that sometimes, frequently, I make poor choices! Oh, the horror!

I guess, I’ve had a lot of work this year and less bandwidth. Celebrating holidays is important, and I feel the pressure of neglecting even to tear open a box to make matzoh ball soup this week for Passover, and to not having hunted or gathered a single Easter goody for Sunday. I’m noticing that the pressure remains on, even as I have taken a step away from the celebration table.

That said, I’m off to a surprise party. I’m not really sure why anyone still is doing this, as I can’t keep up with planned holidays, but there it is. I’m a bit rushed and here’s today’s offering! Happy Easter for those of you who celebrate in any capacity!