Editor's Notebook: Easter Memories

This is my second Editor's Notebook this week, and I'm writing because I feel to really know each other, it's important to share our stories. I want you to get to know me, your new Riverhead Patch editor -- and I want to know you. So please, share my Easter memories, and then send me your most beloved holiday traditions.

When I was a little girl, Easter was a big deal. My grandmother, Nanny, held the holiday very close to her heart, and she imbued the day not only with religious signficance, but strong family tradition.

First of all, there was the outfit. Every year, we'd shop together for my new Easter outfit. And no matter what color dress I chose or shiny patent leather shoes I picked, there was always, always, an Easter bonnet, usually bedecked with faux red cherries and a fancy ribbon. Sometimes, there were gloves, but since I usually stashed them under the bed or deep into a coat pocket, that was a short-lived tradition.

Coloring the Easter eggs was something I shared with both my grandmother and my mother. Nanny would kick off the process, hard boiling some two dozen eggs, and then, my mother and I would color them. As a working mom in the days when few other mothers headed off to the office in the mornings, my Mom was a busy woman, and the times we spent together, doing simple things such as coloring Easter eggs, are memories forever tucked into the treasure chest in my heart.

Of course, there were the perfunctory trips to get my photo taken with the Easter bunny. But, always skeptical of strange men in big white suits -- something that served me well, later, in the days of disco and John Travolta -- I usually immediately began crying in terror, my face red and scrunched up with fear. Needless to say, those photos didn't make it into the family albums.

Most special of all, though, are my memories of Good Friday. When I was a child, my grandmother would take me every year to our church, for a service where there was only silence. There were no words, no hymns, nothing other than the tolling of the church bell 33 times, to mark every year of Jesus' life. No matter what your religion -- so many are celebrating the start of Passover this weekend -- faith, and tradition are born during those early days of our lives when we share such important foundation building moments with our families. Those moments create the adults we become.

After church, there was always a trip to see baby chicks hatching and real life bunnies. I may be living in the heart of farmland now as an adult, but as a child, I was a Brooklyn girl, so there was nothing more magical than petting an actual rabbit. 

And every Easter, there was a basket, filled with candy and a stuffed animal -- my grandmother always made sure the Easter bunny brought a stuffed bunny or duck wearing a bonnet; she loved those bonnets -- and an Easter egg hunt in our house, where I'd find shiny silver quarters tucked next to each egg. My son, now 19, still looks forward to his Easter basket, even at college, and he still talks about the egg hunt at our dear friends' house one year where he found the special, golden egg with $5 hidden inside.

This weekend, no matter what your faith, take time to savor the traditions that create forever memories for children and give them a wealth of love that will warm them for the rest of their lives. It's the greatest gift you can give them.

Have a special Easter or holiday memory? Please tell us about it in our comments section! I can't wait to hear your stories.