Good things about Easter

• Discount Mini Eggs. I love Mini Eggs. I love Mini Eggs on sale after Easter. And I didn't make Nigella's mini-egg cake! Darn! Next year.

• My mother's scalloped potatoes. We have this weird family obsession with scalloped potatoes. My mom must have made enough for about 20 people, and the 11 or so of us ate them all. They are really good, though.

• My mom's Easter presents. She always buys springy things, like rain boots or watering cans. This year was a crocus-purple shirt. Tres cute.
  

• The long weekend. I love long weekends so much more now than I have in the past. Not that I didn't like them, but I really appreciate them now. And I have to wait until May 2-4 for the next one, which is no fun. But it's going to be a good one, what with our trip to Ottawa.
  

• Friends' pictures on Facebook. My friend Mariecel in Germany is a wonderful photographer, and I always love looking at her photos of family events. She is very pregnant, and I can't wait to see her pictures of the baby! Actually, I can't wait to go to Germany and see her. Hopefully next winter.
  

• Almost my birthday! Some years, my birthday and Easter coincide, but Easter was really early this year, so I've got a couple of weeks to wait. My dad is claiming that I'm getting old. Which means that he's getting old, so the point in saying that, I'm not sure.
  

• The promise of spring. I'm not much one for organized religion (in fact, I'm pretty firmly agnostic), so Easter as the rebirth of Jesus doesn't do much for me. However, the pagan roots of Easter, the coming of spring and the rebirth of life after the deadness of winter, really appeals to me. It's why we eat so many of the foods that we do: round eggs, for fertility and the cycle of life and death; sweet breads like hot cross buns to bring us sweetness in the year ahead; and lamb, which is a symbol of youth and birth. It might still be cold and gray outside, but once Easter comes, we know that spring is nearly here. And this year, it will be most welcome.