SO glad this weekend is over. We did not celebrate Easter really yesterday - despite the kids urging to go out and buy them tons of candy I resisted. No candy. Their task was to tell me how receiving candy was symbolic of the Easter holiday, and since they gave me nothing except how eggs are associated with spring and rebirth and new life and shit their answer did not satisfy my request. So, no candy. I must admit that part of it is due to the fact that I am sick to death of accumulating cheesy baskets and that grass shit being everywhere. I got selfish. I know, bad parenting. How dare I be selfish since we give up that right when we bring a child into the world.
The true reason is that, not being a particularly religious family, I decided that Easter is essentially nonsense in this house since it is considered a religious holiday and we already celebrated 'our' Easter during the spring equinox. Easter is nothing more to me than a reason for every mall and store in my area to close - they themselves abuse it as a reason not to work and take my money - and should thus be re-named to "Buy your kids a buncha stupid candy for no REAL religious reason that will rot their teeth and require several dental visits" day. Fit THAT on a calendar.
I'm really not as cold-hearted a parent as I claim - it is really all a front. We finally gave the kids the Wii system we bought again at Christmas as their 'easter' gift. For those who do not remember, I sold my sons Wii system some time ago as a punishment for repeatedly denouncing my claims that bad grades would bring the harshest consequences. My darling son, at Christmas, must have been delusional in thinking that I would just hand it over in the spirit of the season - and, since he was secure in this notion that the spirit of Christmas would cause me to give in to his will and he EXPECTED that damn thing under the tree, I took another proud parenting stance of NOT putting it there. The grades still weren't where I wanted them to be. Jesus himself would have had to walk into this house and beg me to give it back - I was NOT going to crumble.
My plan worked - both of the twins have finally realized that fucking with momma is NOT a smart idea. They have learned that I actually DO have eyes and ears all over this damn town, watching them constantly when I am not there. They have done extra credit without being told, have had 'A's' on the last 4 spelling tests, and are really making an effort. So, no baskets, but a Wii system and Call of Duty is more my style anyway.
So Easter was spent doing OUR thing - eating pizza and playing Call of Duty and Raving Rabbids and Guitar Hero until we couldn't stand it anymore. We did it together - as a family. THAT is what a holiday is all about anyway.
Besides, no better way to celebrate a holiday than blowing shit up with your kids.
I loved this, Christy. I could relate to all of it. We are not a religious family at all either and nothing irks me more than people who are not religious at all but all of a sudden become so on a religious holiday. I feel that if God is going to be a part of your life that he should be a part of that life all year round and if not, don't 'fake' it just because it looks good to other people.
ReplyDeleteWe had a smiliar Easter here. We grilled burgers and dogs on the grill and video games are always being played in this house wether it be Frank and I in the living room or the boys in the bedroom or the rec room in the basement. If you look at the floor in front of the flatscreen tv we just upgraded to in the basement, you will see 4 gaming systems layed out all nice and pretty. I think right now, it is the PS3, PS2(since the new PS3's are not retroactive and will not play PS2 games), Nintendo Gamecube and a friend's Xbox 360. Call of Duty is one of the most popular games at the moment and I think Andy went out and bought BioShock 2.