The Reason for the Season

Instead of going to church and reflecting on the sacrificial death of our Savior last night, we decided to head to Minneapolis and attend the Easter Celebration at the Midtown Global Market. There was no mention of Jesus Christ or the reason why we celebrate Easter but there was a band playing banjos and such and dancing. And there was an Easter Bunny. So we took a picture.Josh was much too cool to take a picture with the Easter Bunny but I did subject Andy to the torture and he did surprisingly well. I expected tears but he was too busy trying to figure out why he was on the lap of an overgrown rabbit.

Then there was the candy hunt. Some but not all of the vendors were handing out candy to kids with Easter baskets so we hauled our Easter bucket around searching for the tell-tale signs of candy. I finally persuaded Josh to carry the bucket after he begged me to carry it because he is too cool and would look like a little kid carrying it around. He was trying to be as invisible as possible with his bright green Easter bucket so I took a picture.
We ate a ton of authentic Mexican food and bought some foods for home like Middle Eastern pita bread and some Mexican tamales. Josh decided to partake of some American fare(i.e. hot dog and chips) and chose Andy's Garage. So we took a picture.
Shopping is high on my to-do list at the Midtown Global Market so we browsed through the shops featuring African musical instruments, Norwegian lace, Asian embroidery, South American beads, local farmer's market produce, and lots of pottery and clothing and toys. At a Latin American shop we bought some Mexican candy and a pinata to smash open at Andy's 1st birthday party since he is a Cinco de Mayo baby. The brilliant plan to make it a tradition came to me in that very shop. So we took a picture.We reserved a special place for the sun pinata. Especially since Andy hates to ride in his stroller. And Josh managed to talk us into getting him a Nacho Libre mask as a plan to wear it as part of a Halloween costume this year. Never mind that it is six months away and I will probably forget about it and get him another costume anyway.

The evening turned out fabulous despite harboring a little guilt that we didn't go to church. However, we did discuss the importance of Good Friday with Josh and we plan to celebrate Jesus' resurrection on Easter Sunday and praising God for what He and His Son did for us so that we can be saved from eternal death. For that is the reason for this season.