By Emily Umbdenstock
Easter is a time for dressing up, looking your best, and hunting for candy. It’s Halloween in reverse.
-Melanie White
Easter is here, New Canaan, and I am so excited to experience this holiday for the very first time as an official New Canaanite. Will a Connecticut Easter feel any different than a New Jersey one? Surely, it will be dissimilar in all of the obvious ways…I mean, we are in a new town in a completely different state, but a big part of me firmly believes that, although not identical to celebrations past, this Easter will still be experienced in very much the same way. And the reason for this is really quite simple…no matter what your religion or how you choose to celebrate, holidays are days of meaning steeped in memories and traditions that have a much more powerful influence than where the day, itself, is spent. If you’re together with your family and the people you love, remembrances of Easters passed will be present no matter where your location. Beyond everything, the very best Easters are naturally those spent with your Peeps (pun totally intended by the way…).
Our little Umbdenstock Easters are very much rooted in the traditions of my childhood. The excitement and happiness that I associate with this infamous Sunday can be fully attributed to my parents who made sure this blessed day was as special as could be year after year. I am beyond thankful to have grown up like this, and since becoming a mother myself, I have made it my mission to recreate this magic with my own children. And, truth be told, while our annual Easter celebration likely appears as nothing crazy fancy or extremely elaborate to the outside world, to us, it is perfect. Hectic, chaotic and sugar-fueled…well, DUH, but perfectly imperfect nevertheless.
One of my favorite Easter traditions is most definitely the Easter morning candy hunt. I vividly remember running down the stairs with my siblings, barefoot in our matching bunny pajamas, my parents waiting at the bottom of the stairs with an old school camcorder to immortalize the moment. Our journey led us to a living room adorned floor to ceiling with “hidden” candies and chocolates, all for the taking. It was the ultimate game of Candy Land personified; every child’s fantasy! Jellybeans colorfully lined the wainscoting, foil wrapped eggs pastel shades were recklessly strewn on arm rests and seat cushions, and holiday themed Hershey’s kisses were tucked behind vases and gently placed atop picture frames. And, if we were really lucky, we’d stumble upon the mother lode…a cleverly disguised Cadbury cream egg just begging to be scooped up.
Now I am the one laying out the sweet sugary treasures on Easter Eve, and our stampedes are captured on iPhones. Our annual candy hunt always makes me giggle because it is tangible proof that my children can find things when they really want to. On a typical day, the usual response to my request to look for something is “I can’t find It,” however, on Easter, my kids can miraculously spot a sugar bomb the size of my thumbnail from 30 feet across the room with absolutely no problem. I should probably start sewing candy into the pockets of coats and taping them to the sides of water bottles to ensure that they return home at the end of the day…I really think I might be onto something here…just saying….
Every family has their own version of our candy hunt; a tradition just as joyful to everyone participating no matter what it may be. Whether it be dying Easter eggs at the kitchen table, whipping up your grandmother’s famous carrot cake or attending church in your Easter best, it really doesn’t matter. The most important part of any of these rituals are not in the acts themselves, but, rather, the significance lies in the special people with whom you practice them. In the end, every bunny needs some bunny to love…after all, we may not have it all together, but together we certainly have it all!
Emily Umbdenstock received her BA in from Georgetown and her MA in Health and Behavior Studies from Columbia University Teachers College. When she isn’t “momming” her three children, she works as a freelance copy editor and an essay editor for college applications. A New Jersey native, Emily relocated to New Canaan in June.
