Eastertide...what does that mean?

I really can't believe that I am posting about Easter Season!  I started this blog back in January, right after the holidays, which does not seem like that long ago.  Time is just rolling on by, which I could really expand upon but that is for a whole different blog post.  This one, this one is about something that is at the root of my  existence.  My foundation.  My life.  My faith.

What is Easter to you?  What does it mean?  I know for most, myself included, it means family time.  A ham dinner at a nicely decorated spring table with family and friends seated around.  It means pretty little girls all dressed up in the most beautiful dresses us Mommies can find to compliment our, of course, already beautiful girls.  Their hair all done up with bows, curls, and maybe even pigtails.  Little white gloves, new spring dress shoes, tights, and purses to match their new dress.  Our boys, well they cannot be forgotten on this day either.  I love seeing my boy on Easter with a new Easter outfit.  (boys hate it when you call it an outfit by the way)  We get them new church shoes and a "set" complete with khakis pants, a freshly pressed button down collared shirt, a sweater vest, and a tie to complete the ensemble.  Here in Texas it's actually warm at Easter so my son tends to prefer the sets that come with shorts vs. khakis.  But, you get the point.  It's a time to get dressed up in our Easter best and then send our kids outside in the dirt to hunt for eggs that the Easter Bunny has left out in the yard.  Kind of funny when you think about it, dress them all up, in light colored clothes no less, and then send them out to dirt and grass.  Not the smartest activity we parents have created.

But, is that what this season is all about?  In more recent years, I think we've done a better job of remembering "the reason for the season" and I think in large part to the commercial success of a certain Easter movie called "The Passions of the Christ".  I know soooo many people that make a point of watching that movie at this time of year.  If you don't believe me on this, just try to go to your local video store (if there are still any) or order on Netflix and see if you have any luck finding one in stock.  Walk through your local department store.  This time of year they always have a newly displayed section right in the front of the DVD department with multiple copies of the movie for purchase.  Not to be a downer but it is really kind of sad when you think about it that it's the success of a movie that has spawned people to at least watch it to remember what really happened to create this season, this holiday.  But, we can also look at it as a positive that people ARE really taking the time to remember.

I hope I don't offend anyone here and I certainly don't mean to but just think about it for a minute.  People won't go to church all year, not any given Sunday....except Christmas and Easter.  It is nice to see that with all the changes we've made, all the Politically Correctness we feel we need to have, the removal of God from so much that was the foundation of this great country, at least we still...at least somewhat...give God, and Jesus, their days...twice a year.

This season, the season of Easter, is soooo emotional.  Or is that just me?  Christmas is a beautiful time of year when we remember the birth of Jesus.  Who can't be happy celebrating a birth right!?  But Easter, now that's the time when we remember that he died.  For us.  Jesus had to be a man, made of flesh and blood.  He had to go through unspeakable pain and suffering in his final days leading up to his death.  For us.  For me Easter is a reminder each time I go to church and take that communion wafer, the body and blood of Christ.  Think about what...that...means.  I've been known to get a bit teary eyed on Easter Sunday in taking my communion wafer because I am reminded of all that he had to endure.  I often think about, now as a mom myself, how Mary must have felt.  I cannot even imagine how heart wrenching it must have been for her to watch her son hanging there.  Yes, he is the Son of God.  Yes, she knew that.  But yes, he still grew in her womb and she still raised and protected him, as any mother would do, as he grew up into the man that now hung on a cross with a crown of thorns piercing into his flesh.  Yikes!!!  It gets me emotional just to type these words now.

My point here is this.  I am not saying that we shouldn't decorate eggs, wait for the Easter Bunny to arrive, celebrate a happy family time, or enjoy our day off on Good Friday.  (that's if your company allows you to have that day off)  We should enjoy all of that.  But, let's also not forget why we are celebrating this time either.  Don't forget he's the reason for the season.  He went through all of that pain, all of that suffering, all of that anguish for each and every one of us.  The least we can do is take the time to remember him for it.  And thank him.