— B.K. & K.C.
James Williams ’12
At home in Virginia, Easter is always a “feel good” holiday for me. It is in the spring, the weather is nice, and my whole family has a big Easter dinner together. You also get an Easter basket, which my Grandmother would always hide somewhere in her house and me and all of my cousins would run around frantically looking for our baskets and the hidden eggs we had dyed the night before. Our baskets usually had candy, money, little gifts, and that weird plastic green grass. I think the reason I liked Easter at home so much was because it was kind of a hybrid between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our baskets were like little presents and we had a huge Easter dinner as a big family. It was a great way to celebrate the beginning of spring.
At Amherst this year, Easter kind of snuck up on me. I didn’t give anything up for Lent, so I wasn’t looking forward to eating chocolate again or finally being able to cuss like some of my friends were. I also didn’t really have anything planned so it was just looking like another typical Amherst weekend on my schedule. Then I got e-mails from my RC’s Moody and Clare and I was surprised that there was some Easter spirit in the air. In South, Moody hid dorm candy around the fourth floor all weekend for a weekend-long “egg” hunt. Then the night before Easter, Clare hid about 45 eggs around the dorm for us all to find and even had a prize for who found the most. Easter day was actually a ton of fun in South because we all got together in the common room to decorate eggs. Something so simple as dying eggs turned out to be really fun and a great way to just hang out and take a break from studying. I didn’t go back home this Easter, but I still definitely had some good Easter fun here at Amherst. It was just about 30 degrees colder and I didn’t accidentally swallow that weird green plastic grass stuff.
Jenny Potanka ’11
I considered staying at school during the Easter weekend, but decided that I would be missing the point of Easter if I did not share it with my family.
Traditionally, my family decorates Easter eggs. From watching the videos my dad used to take, it seemed like a very fun activity for us. Now that we’re older, however, the appeal of dipping an egg in dye has worn off. Instead, we decorated cupcakes this year. As if decorating cupcakes instead of eggs wasn’t unorthodox enough, we used a peculiar array of toppings which included CrackerJack popcorn and even Kix covered in colored frosting. My lack of creative abilities made me most suitable for mixing the colors — the cupcakes that I decorated were deemed undeserving of being presented at my aunt’s house, and were left at home as scraps for my family to eat.
We all thoroughly enjoyed our time at my Aunt’s house. Besides devouring my Uncle’s buffalo chicken dip, we spent our time catching up. We have had two recent additions to our family, my baby cousins ages 18 months and 3 years old. While they are not napping, we tend to spend most of our time fighting for their attention. This year we got the pleasure of meeting my cousins future in-laws; my sisters found it very hard to avoid the temptation to embarrass my cousin. Instead, we pretended to watch the Masters while really plotting on ways to prank others in my family, which, to our enjoyment, has become more and more common at our family gatherings.
When I was younger, all that mattered to me on Easter Sunday was finding the candy that my parents had hidden around our house. Once my sisters and I rolled out of bed on Easter morning, we would go to the kitchen, eat breakfast and check out what the Easter Bunny had left us. Then we would get dressed in our bright, pastel dresses and head to Easter mass.
Easter activities this year began at precisely 12:00 a.m. on Easter morning. My older sisters came home from New York City to spend the weekend at home. We sat by the clock waiting for the stroke of midnight to relieve ourselves of our Lenten promise to not eat junk food during the 40 days of Lent (though in retrospect I admit I used the term junk food a little too loosely). After pigging out for nearly an hour, we went to bed, full and uncomfortable.
In the morning, I attended Easter mass with my family. As I’ve grown older, I’ve come to appreciate the priest’s homily regarding Jesus’ resurrection and the importance of family. In the afternoon, we traveled to my aunt’s home for a gathering of my mother’s extended family. Recently, we’ve begun a tradition of an outdoors Easter-egg hunt. The “children” (ranging in age from 18 months to 32 years old) compete to find the most plastic eggs cleverly hidden in shrubs, plants and outdoor furniture. Again, this year I placed second (though I blame my runner-up status this year on having given several of my eggs to my 2 year old cousin so she would stop crying). Though the competition for prizes is keen, spending the time with those I love was my real reward. Over the years, that has not changed.
Carly Leahy ‘11
Each peeking sneakily outside her bedroom door on a bright Sunday morning, three giggly little ladies, with their eyes, trace the path of chocolate eggs that wind down the front stairs. Each Easter at the Leahy house, the Easter Bunny would drop by, spilling a trail of candy that led from our bedrooms to the living room fireplace where we would find baskets overflowing with little trinkets and sweet confections. Only when we heard my father’s voice say, “Okay the coast is clear!” could we burst through the doorway, haphazardly scooping up the edible path as we scurried down to discover our prize.
Once half of the basket’s contents were consumed and the sticky, yellow “peep” residue was wiped from our mouths, my mother dressed us in matching spring dresses — “our Sunday best,” as she used to call it. A floppy hat, tied too tightly around our necks completed the look as we were ushered out the door and into the car. Three heads bobbed in the backseat on the way to church where, impressed with our own sophisticated appearance, we would sit obediently and hum along with each Easter psalm. An early holiday dinner with family rounded out the day. Lamb and mashed potatoes filled our plates — turnip was avoided — and lady-like dresses were soon exchanged for “footsie” pajamas before dessert. With warm hearts and full bellies, we were soon overcome by sleep. One by one, each Leahy girl was carried up to bed, despite her best effort, and defiant resolution to stay awake and experience the full magic of Easter.