We celebrated our Easter by going to our favorite Chinese restaurant, Xi Pin. It's a restaurant that specialises in dishes from western China, and we have rarely been disappointed by what we get there. Seth's favorite is soybeans with bacon, my favorite is smashed potatoes with pickled veggies, and Benjamin's favorite is--oh, that's right, I forgot I was married to a man who refuses to name favorites. (He just likes everything.) Today we ordered our favorite dishes and tried a new one: deep-fried yogurt. We didn't really know what to expect, but it still wasn't what we had expected!
When we returned to campus we took some photos of our little man. I put the dressiest outfit he has on him, but it still isn't very dressy. I was feeling bad about this and thinking how next year I should make a point to pack some nicer clothes for Seth to wear on holidays and special occassions when I turned around and found him digging in the dirt. So much for my attempt to make him look respectable on this the most important holiday of the year.
Easter is virtually unheard of here in China. It's very much different from Christmas, which is celebrated by everyone and their dog, even if they don't know what it represents. I have to say that I struggled a bit this morning as we read the Easter story and sang some Easter songs--wishing I could be in a church with lilies and trumpets and all that. And of course I want Seth to be able to experience Easter traditions like dyeing and hunting for Easter eggs, but it's not like I can go to Wal-Mart and pick up a Easter egg dyeing kit and chocolate bunnies, so I am going to have to be more intentional about planning in the future. And we're going to have to get more creative as a family and make our own traditions. I read on Wikipedia that in Burmuda it is an Easter tradition to fly kites to symbolise Christ's assent, and that is definitely one tradition that our family can assume. And it will be easier to celebrate holidays once we are in our new apartment with a kitchen--so many holiday traditions revolve around food!
