Last week, on Palm Sunday, our HUG team met for our monthly worship night and Nicole began the discussion by having us talk about our Easter memories and traditions from when we were kids. I have long had an idea for a memoir-style book called "Tell me your Life Story" in which I interview friends and relatives and compile their stories into one place, just cause I find people's lives fascinating. But, since I have many ideas and not much time (and now that I put that out on the interwebs, someone will likely steal my idea before I can write it anyway), I thought I would start small, with our little groups' Easter stories.
Pretty much across the board, those of us from the US agree that our fondest childhood memories stem from Easter baskets, family meals and Easter egg hunts. While we all had these things in common, every family had different ways of putting them into practice. Bryan told us that his family would gather the Saturday night before Easter and gorge themselves on ham and Easter dinner fixings. When he was ten, he stuffed himself so full, he threw up! I found that hilarious. (Some of you may disagree.) Nicole's family, including all her aunts, uncles, cousins, etc, would gather all together to celebrate the holiday with a meal and a giant Easter egg hunt. She shared how each year a different cousin would be chosen to share the Easter story with the younger cousins and she dreaded being chosen because she was (is) so shy, but when she finally did it, she found that it was a really special experience. Emily's mom would hide their Easter baskets and get super into it, well past the age where it was really appropriate (I think she may do them to this day, hahaha). Emily said one year, her older sister couldn't find her basket and her mom refused to let them give her hints so her sister got SO upset. Families are so funny. I shared about my mom making us new Easter dresses for church, eating Easter dinner with the extended family and getting a solid chocolate Easter bunny in my basket. Apparently, this tradition is being carried on today, as my niece reported she got the same chocolate bunny in her basket last week!
Joy and Ralph are from New Zealand, which apparently is full of heathens (just kidding! I know lots of amazing people from there!!) They were feeling a bit left out hearing us talk about the kinds of things we got in our Easter baskets (Christian cds, Bibles, books) and hearing about the Easter egg hunts. They said most people don't even go to church on Easter in NZ. They used to take their family for a beach holiday at their cabin for Easter break. When they were young, church camp was quite popular during the Easter holidays, but sounds like that is not so much the case anymore. Their best Easter memories were of meeting at Easter camp and getting married on Easter! So sweet. :)
For Easter this year, I had heat stroke. I really hope that is not starting a tradition. The day before was my roommate's wedding and she had asked me to play the piano for the ceremony. We had only a little Casio keyboard, but hooked up to the speakers it sounded great! For weeks, I was nervous about playing in front of 150 people, but the day of, I was so focused on staying upright and not passing out in the middle of playing, that I didn't even remember to be nervous. Thankfully, I stayed conscious throughout and made it home and into bed before sleeping. Sunday was church, sleep, Hot Cross Buns party! My other New Zealand friend, Sacha, hosted a Hot Cross Buns party at her house to share this delicious treat with her US friends (the secret is, they are just raisin bread in the shape of rolls). They were delicious, and we got to play a rousing game of catchphrase too, which was super fun for our competitive group of international people. About 8 pm I realized I was about to fall asleep, so I drove home and went back to bed. Man, heat stroke is no joke! I do not recommend getting it, though I have lost some weight during the drama.
I have stayed in touch with my Taw Saeng crew and have been doing things with them in smaller groups. I took the littlest ones to see Cinderella when it came out. Here are some highlights:
Them: Where are we going?
Me: Airport Plaza (the smallest of the many, many malls)
Them: AIRPORT PLAZA? Have you ever been there? Yeah, once with my dad! Was it cool? It was so fun!
Them: What floor is the movie on?
Me: the 4th floor.
Them: Can we take the ELEVATOR????!!!!!
Me:.....um, yeah....
Them: YAY! AN ELEVATOR!
Them: Do they have POPCORN? They have POPCORN!!!!
They were a crackup. Also, it's a good thing I know the story in my sleep, cause dang do those kids go to the bathroom often. I probably saw 15 minutes of the entire movie. So worth it though for their first experience at the movies. They were the cutest!
I went to my first Chiang Mai Football Club game with some of the other HUG team and we invited the boys from HUG along. They had a blast, and the next week at Bible study the highlight of all their weeks was "going to the football game*."
*for those of you unaware, football aka soccer.
Pretty much across the board, those of us from the US agree that our fondest childhood memories stem from Easter baskets, family meals and Easter egg hunts. While we all had these things in common, every family had different ways of putting them into practice. Bryan told us that his family would gather the Saturday night before Easter and gorge themselves on ham and Easter dinner fixings. When he was ten, he stuffed himself so full, he threw up! I found that hilarious. (Some of you may disagree.) Nicole's family, including all her aunts, uncles, cousins, etc, would gather all together to celebrate the holiday with a meal and a giant Easter egg hunt. She shared how each year a different cousin would be chosen to share the Easter story with the younger cousins and she dreaded being chosen because she was (is) so shy, but when she finally did it, she found that it was a really special experience. Emily's mom would hide their Easter baskets and get super into it, well past the age where it was really appropriate (I think she may do them to this day, hahaha). Emily said one year, her older sister couldn't find her basket and her mom refused to let them give her hints so her sister got SO upset. Families are so funny. I shared about my mom making us new Easter dresses for church, eating Easter dinner with the extended family and getting a solid chocolate Easter bunny in my basket. Apparently, this tradition is being carried on today, as my niece reported she got the same chocolate bunny in her basket last week!
Joy and Ralph are from New Zealand, which apparently is full of heathens (just kidding! I know lots of amazing people from there!!) They were feeling a bit left out hearing us talk about the kinds of things we got in our Easter baskets (Christian cds, Bibles, books) and hearing about the Easter egg hunts. They said most people don't even go to church on Easter in NZ. They used to take their family for a beach holiday at their cabin for Easter break. When they were young, church camp was quite popular during the Easter holidays, but sounds like that is not so much the case anymore. Their best Easter memories were of meeting at Easter camp and getting married on Easter! So sweet. :)
For Easter this year, I had heat stroke. I really hope that is not starting a tradition. The day before was my roommate's wedding and she had asked me to play the piano for the ceremony. We had only a little Casio keyboard, but hooked up to the speakers it sounded great! For weeks, I was nervous about playing in front of 150 people, but the day of, I was so focused on staying upright and not passing out in the middle of playing, that I didn't even remember to be nervous. Thankfully, I stayed conscious throughout and made it home and into bed before sleeping. Sunday was church, sleep, Hot Cross Buns party! My other New Zealand friend, Sacha, hosted a Hot Cross Buns party at her house to share this delicious treat with her US friends (the secret is, they are just raisin bread in the shape of rolls). They were delicious, and we got to play a rousing game of catchphrase too, which was super fun for our competitive group of international people. About 8 pm I realized I was about to fall asleep, so I drove home and went back to bed. Man, heat stroke is no joke! I do not recommend getting it, though I have lost some weight during the drama.
I have stayed in touch with my Taw Saeng crew and have been doing things with them in smaller groups. I took the littlest ones to see Cinderella when it came out. Here are some highlights:
Them: Where are we going?
Me: Airport Plaza (the smallest of the many, many malls)
Them: AIRPORT PLAZA? Have you ever been there? Yeah, once with my dad! Was it cool? It was so fun!
Them: What floor is the movie on?
Me: the 4th floor.
Them: Can we take the ELEVATOR????!!!!!
Me:.....um, yeah....
Them: YAY! AN ELEVATOR!
Them: Do they have POPCORN? They have POPCORN!!!!
They were a crackup. Also, it's a good thing I know the story in my sleep, cause dang do those kids go to the bathroom often. I probably saw 15 minutes of the entire movie. So worth it though for their first experience at the movies. They were the cutest!
I went to my first Chiang Mai Football Club game with some of the other HUG team and we invited the boys from HUG along. They had a blast, and the next week at Bible study the highlight of all their weeks was "going to the football game*."
*for those of you unaware, football aka soccer.
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