Making Easter happen

If I didn't go out of my way to make it seem Eastery, Easter would have hopped by without making much of an appearance.

In Mormondom, Easter's sadly not that big of a deal. There's always a new Easter video, but beyond that, it's pretty small. I was pretty annoyed that my stake conference was this weekend, which meant not only the main session but also the Saturday night and Sunday morning leadership sessions. They would never dare have such meetings on Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning. I'm feeling pretty unrighteously annoyed with early meetings, because what's the point of having a meeting if you'll be falling asleep the entire time? And in all the sessions, only one talk was actually about Easter, with a few other passing references. We didn't even sing any Easter songs, with the exception of a couple of choir numbers.

You will recall that I made a holiday bucket list this year, and one of the items for Easter was to attend an Easter concert. I found out there was a Mormon Tabernacle Choir Easter concert, but all the tickets were distributed, so I didn't know if I would get in. So I looked at other options.

I found out there was an oratorio called "The Passion of Our Lord" at the local Catholic church on Palm Sunday (last week). In theory I'm very ecumenical, but in practice I'm not, so off I went. I'd never been to a Catholic church before, so I was a bit nervous, and I went by myself. When I went in, I saw a state representative from our neighborhood, whose husband was my orthopedist when I was 9. They are from my home stake and know my mom, so I introduced myself, feeling more comfortable that I wasn't the only Mormon there. (The next night I went on a short run and happened to pass them walking, and they remembered my name!)

The performance was what you'd expect of a volunteer choir of members of a minority religion. But I enjoyed being in a new place and seeing the Catholics do their ritual genuflecting and crossing before they sat down. I also had holy envy for the beautiful decorations of the church.

We have rituals and beautiful decorations in our Mormon temples but not so much in our public spaces, so I liked the experience. Since I love holidays and seasons, I have a bit of holy envy for the whole liturgical calendar. (Tomorrow I'm starting a sort of reverse Lent, about forty days of no candy, since that's how long it is before Memorial Day weekend and the beginning of patriotic candy season.)

At work, they always have a "Peep show" before Easter, dedicated to showing the pop culture surrounding Peeps. People say you either love Peeps or hate them. I don't think that's true, I think there's a large number of us whose general apathy toward the candy makes us not be very vocal about them. For me, I love them for their iconic, traditional status, not for their own merits as candy. They had Peeps sugar cookies, Peeps "sushi," and Peeps Oreos (which I had already had). 

 I had to tell the presenter about the Peeps frozen yogurt I got from Menchie's.

Even though I went to a concert at the Catholic church, I did try for standby tickets for the MoTab concert and got in. They performed Beethoven's Christ on the Mount of Olives, which was very operatic. I've said this before: No one likes opera except those who are trained to like it. People are afraid to say anything bad about it because they will seem plebeian, but it's really an Emperor's New Clothes situation. The opera is not wearing any clothes!

 Nevertheless, I recognize the immense talent of the soloists, even though it's not my style. After the intermission, they played a new piece by Mack Wilberg, A Cloud of Witnesses. It was pleasant enough, though I don't think it's going to become a wildly popular work. I say that like I know anything about music.

I found a charming Easter children's album from the 1960s and bought it for my Easter playlist, which is the worst of all my holiday playlists. (Most modern kids' music is horrendously painful, but this one was decent.)

And I thought it would be fun to spend the day before Easter running up Mueller Park Canyon. I ran about .75 miles past Elephant Rock, making it about 8 miles round trip. I hadn't been there since September I think, and it was easier than I remember, which makes me happy. Maybe it's because it was a cool day, whereas I usually run it in the height of summer, but I think I've gotten more stamina. It was lovely, and it was charming to see colored eggshells on the trail (though I usually detest litter).

I had to get my car fixed because it was leaking gas, and I think the repairman said he legally couldn't let me drive with such a problem.

Then with my family we colored eggs and had an egg hunt, and I had asked my mom to hide my basket. My niece had the idea to put it in the oven, because when I was three years old I put pillows in the oven, pretending I was baking. (Then my mom turned the oven on...) I also got a patriotic outdoor blanket, which will be perfect for the Fourth of July, even though it's too early to be thinking about that.

These were mine. The grapes are my favorite. The hearts and carrots didn't turn out so well.

Then today, after attending stake conference, having dinner at my grandparents' house, and eating lots of candy, the last thing on my bucket list was to roll (plastic) Easter eggs down a hill. So off I went with my sister and niece.

So far in 2017, Easter has been my favorite holiday season. But only because I made it that way.