Happy Easter, Happy Passover

Easter: when all you sickos stuff your faces with marshmallow Peeps and us sophisticated types sneak Cadbury Eggs and judge you. Of course, I joke. Happy Easter and Happy Passover!

I loved Easter when I was a kid. We used to go to my aunt and uncle's house in Porter. The kids would go on an egg hunt and the adults would look forward to the four hour dinner event. The grandparents, aunts and uncles would all bring their own specialties: chiles rellenos, tamales, tortas, ham, stuffing and whatever else we incorporated into our Mexican-American palate that year.

I could never figure out why the adults would always get the kids Easter outfits because we were going to spend all day hunting eggs, chasing lizards and stuffing our faces with chocolate and Mexican food.

In fact, one year my mother and my older sisters bought me a little Lacoste shirt and pants set. They doted over me and cooed at how cute I was (let's face it, I'm irresistible to this day). Thirty minutes later, I ditched the shirt, found a pair of scissors and cut off the Lacoste alligator because I wanted to play with it. Maybe you guys should have held me back a grade.

These days my aunts and uncles all have grand kids of their own and we don't make it out to Porter anymore. I actually missed Mass today and instead of a home-cooked family dinner, I think we're going to the Cheesecake factory tonight. We don't celebrate Easter the same way, but it's still a great day for family to come together- any way we can.

Christmas in Springtime

Easter is a "movable" holiday. It doesn't have a fixed date on the calendar. One year, when I was six or seven, I was visiting my sister and brother-in-law in New York. That year, Easter fell on my birthday.

It was my first solo plane ride, and my first trip to New York. We climbed to the top of the Statue of Liberty. We watched fathers and sons play with remote-controlled boats in a Central Park pond. I finally got to see how tall a brontasaurus was at the Museum of Natural History and most importantly of all, we visited FAO Schwartz.

You remember the scene in Big where Tom Hanks and Robert Loggia danced to "Heart and Soul" on that roll out piano? That's the place.

Legos. Mountains of colorful, stackable geometric bliss. The store had a "Lego Land" with endless blocks that visiting children could play with. I walked into a Lego castle and pushed around a Lego truck. I threw hand fulls of blocks in the air, just to listen to their clatter. I didn't share because no one would make me and most importantly, I didn't have to pick anything up when I was done.

It was glorious.

As I was building the most awesome Lego robot New York had ever seen, a glimmer of red shot out from a display, in between passing customers. I couldn't make it out at first, but the color reminded me of something. My robot needed a respite from his conquest of Lego Land, so I got up and investigated.

It was a red, remote-controlled boat, like the ones those kids had in Central Park. My Lego robot didn't have a working water cannon that you could fire from your remote control pad. Stupid robot.

I stood in front of the display and told my sister and brother-in-law that I had found what I wanted for my birthday. They looked at it and somberly told me that it was too expensive but not to worry because I never knew what the Easter bunny might bring. Did he know I was in New York?

I left the store, hiding my disappointment and we went back to their Manhattan apartment for the night.

The next morning, my sister gently woke me up as my brother-in-law walked in the front door in his running clothes. I got up, washed my face and sat down at the table, waiting for breakfast.

"Josh, will you get the paper? It's probably at the front door. I guess Steve forgot to get it when he walked in", my sister said.

I walked to the door, stretched up to unlatch the chain and stepped outside. Instead of the Times, there was a bright green Easter basket, like the ones you find at the grocery store. And next to the basket, was a shiny red boat, with a card and a bow.

"Happy birthday, Josh", the card said. "It was hard to find you all the way up here in New York. Have a very special birthday!", signed- The Easter Bunny.

My heart jolted the sleep from my body and I smiled. I stood there for a second, thinking- that rabbit can't be this good. And if he was that good, then why hadn't he hooked me up like this before!?!

In that New York moment, I grew up, just a little. I realized how much my family loved me and that all those Christmas mornings and Easter Sundays my parents and siblings must have gone out of their way to make magic happen.

That was the last year for the fantastic trinity: the rabbit, the jolly fat man, and the tooth fairy. Well, at least for me.

Even though I don't get together with my extended family as much as I used to, and even though I'm so far removed from Easter baskets and little red boats, Easter is a very special holiday.

Now, though, I look forward to having kids, so I can create the same magic for them that my family did for me.

I wish you all a happy Easter season. Enjoy this time with loved ones, celebrate the spring and make some memories with the ones you love.