Just Because: Happy Holy Saturday, 2021

Happy Holy Saturday!

This Easter is going to be so much better than it was last year, isn't it?  On Easter 2020, my husband and I got all dressed up and watched Mass on TV in our family room—just the two of us—live-streamed from the Basilica of the Sacred Heart at the University of Notre Dame.  Our little local parish church here in semi-rural VA is not nearly as spectacular as that glorious basilica...but we are just over the moon about how much more special this holiest of holidays is going to be in 2021.  We are over the moon that we are going to be in the actual presence of Our Lord at Mass in our church, that we will receive Him in the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist, that we will be gathered together with our fellow parishioners, after spending so much of the past year starved of these experiences that we used to assume would always be available to us and will certainly never take for granted again!  Hallelujah!!

My husband and I are planning to go to the Easter Vigil Mass, and then on Sunday at noon we will have more than 20 loved ones at our house for an Easter brunch (I already mentioned these plans on the blog, I know!). By the way, I was asked in the comment section of that post for a couple of recipes, so here they are.  (You’re welcome! ;))

I always thought Christmas was my holiday wheelhouse...but what I am beginning to realize is that although it tends to come with a good bit less hoopla and much lower expectations of awesomeness than Christmas (just simple Easter baskets instead of major gifts, and not nearly as many decorative elements about the house), Easter might be my favorite holiday of all.  The fact that Christ rose triumphantly from the dead on Easter, and through His Crucifixion and Resurrection redeemed all of mankind is obviously the main reason; but I also love everything about Easter and the Easter season: the warmth of spring and flowers blooming; Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets; bow ties on little boys and bonnets on little girls; and bunnies, bunnies everywhere.  Oh yes, and CHOCOLATE!   Easter makes me 100% happy.  It is the most stress-free, joyful celebration of the year, IMHO.

We gave our kids/grandkids their family Easter baskets early, and the 3-and-a-1/2-year-old identical twin boys, the sons of our fourth oldest (who have a triplet sister and a younger sister), were utterly fascinated with the cheap wind-up dinosaurs we hid in plastic eggs. Like I said: there are lower expectations of awesomeness on Easter, and it costs next to nothing to give gifts that make the little ones happy.

I decorate the house for Easter, but as I said, not nearly as much as I do at Christmas. 

Just looking at that collage makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.  What's not to love about Easter?  It's just the best, in every way.  God bless us every one.  This Easter and always.

(P.S. At Christmas, I'll probably be telling you all about how I love that holiday the most!  Fickle, fickle.)

(Linking up with Rosie et. al., here.)