A good Hare day

Among the many holidays celebrated and abhorred each year, Easter is a favorite of mine (at least on my "Top 10" list). Coinciding with the "rebirth" of Nature, it is a fantastically appropriate time to celebrate "rebirth" of the Christian savior. It's such a great time of year, too, as Spring gets fully underway. The trees and flowers begin blooming, everything becomes green anew, the temperatures begin to warm (unpredictably), and hundreds of thousands of students nationwide miss TONS of school for district competitions for "this", "that", and the "other."

Aside from having to reteach the same lesson over and over and over again to each student that was absent (they tend to be absent in groups, but tend to come in for "what they missed" one at time), it's a hard time of year to be frustrated, unhappy, or not stressed--the good things about the Easter season so TOTALLY outweigh the bad, and for that, I'm happy I have such a scale to weigh those intangibles.

Here's some of the things on the scale . . . .

• I get a chance to wear the pink and purple shirts the "not-so-manly" section of my closet
• All "St. Patrick's Day" paraphernalia on sale at "90% off" at Dollar General
  
• No school on Good Friday--more time to do quiet, uninterrupted math problems
  
• No crowds at grocery store on Sunday morning as even backsliding church-goers attend Easter Sunday services.
  
• Finally have something to do with all the dozens of chicken eggs I have instead of giving them away. Now I can hard boil them, color them with the kids, and throw them away a week later.
• Sharing Easter jokes with strangers, like "Q: How do Easter Bunnies stay in shape? A: They simply don't eat Cadbury Creme Eggs by the basketful" (not as popular as the alternative "because they eggsercise" punchline)
  
• Singing all those wonderful Easter carols like "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" and no others
• Getting rid of all the leftover Halloween candy by stuffing it into plastic eggs for the kids to find.
• Watching "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" in High Definition
• Getting a hug from a giant pink bunny actually doesn't seem so odd.
• Every bad habit given up during Lent can now be reassumed which means toenails in the carpet again, cleaner bedrooms (see yesterday's blog), and all-out self-indulgent hedonism
• I get a convenient blog topic
• Lots of great libations at family get-togethers which helps tolerate family members
  
• I get to say the word "bonnet"
• No more lines at Long John Silver's on Friday Nights.
• Filling out my tournament brackets for the "White House Easter Egg Roll"
• Pastel-colored Fireworks!!!!!
• Telling everyone I see, "Hoppy Easter!!"
• Waiting up all Saturday Night to "catch" the Easter Bunny
• 5 words: Royal Dark Cadbury Mini Eggs (they're bad for the hips but oh so good for the heart)
  

There is really only one thing I DON'T like about Easter and it is this: that it only comes once a year (do you know how hard it is to make it through the year without Royal Dark Cadbury Mini Eggs????????!!!!!!!!!!!?????????)

"Bonnet!"