Our Favorite Easter Memories

Easter is the most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church. The holiday marks the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everyone has their favorite Easter traditions from attending Mass and eating a big dinner to hunting for Easter eggs and spending time with family. In honor of the blessed holiday, the Bordas & Bordas attorneys and staff have collaborated to share their favorite things about Easter! Jim Bordas: Growing up in the Bordas household, Easter was a holiday second only to Christmas. I have many wonderful Easter memories, some of which are brought back by reviewing old Easter pictures of my brothers and sisters and my mom and dad all dressed up in our Sunday best. Even though we attended church as a family on a weekly basis, and back in the 50s and 60s, wore dressy clothes, which meant coats and ties for the boys and dresses for the girls, Easter was even more dressy. We all had new outfits to wear to church on Easter Sunday! Easter Week for my family was one of reverence. I can’t remember a time in my life that I felt closer to our Lord and Savior than I did Easter Week when I was young. As a young Catholic boy, I participated with many of my Catholic friends and my brothers and sisters, in observance of all the Catholic Lenten traditions. We all gave up something for Lent, be it candy, cake, ice cream, whatever it happened to be. In my family, we not only gave up at least one thing that we really liked and found it difficult to give up, but we also tried to do something positive as often as possible that we normally didn’t do. The sacrificing I think brought us closer to God and also taught us something about willpower. Some of my fondest Easter moments were listening to the daily sermons that were given during Holy Week and attending the Stations of the Cross. That’s not to say that all of Easter was so serious. Certainly my mother made sure that the Easter bunny left presents for each one of us! We participated in Mom’s Easter egg hunts that I thought were the absolute best. That is until I met my wife. She tops them all with not only the presents that she gives to me, our children, our grandchildren and our friends, but also the great Easter egg hunts that she takes charge of almost every year. These Easter egg hunts involve 60-75 plastic Easter eggs with change inside the eggs. Some of the Easter eggs even have dollar bills, and one or two have five dollar bills. So it’s a lot of fun and excitement for the little kids and sometimes even the bigger ones to participate in Linda’s Easter egg hunts. One of the most memorable Easter egg hunts that I can recall is one that was held in Colorado where my youngest son, Ben, was working. Linda had the egg hunt for his buddies, all of whom were in their early 20s. We hid the eggs with change and dollar bills. The participants thought that was the most interesting Easter egg hunt ever! In short, Easter is to me a season whereby I’m able to concentrate more on Christ, where I have a chance to become closer to Christ, and become a better person. It’s also a season where I take time to reflect on those days gone by that were spent with family and friends and the very special moments where we were for the most part thanking the good God above for all the blessings that have been bestowed upon me and my family. I continue to do that to this day. Jamie Bordas: My favorite thing about Easter has always been going to Mass with my family. This is the one holiday that we should think about its true meaning more than any other. Everything about Easter Mass --- people dressed up, the Gospel reading, the music --- helps me do that. Geoff Brown: My favorite thing about Easter is spending time with some of our closest friends who we visit every year over Easter weekend. Even though our kids are older now, they still enjoy the Easter egg hunt and going to Mass together at the church near where they live. Zak Zatezalo: As if Easter could get any more miraculous, it will always hold the most special place in my heart, because five years ago on Easter my son was born five weeks premature, with a host of life-threatening complications, after my wife suffered some very serious medical complications. But thanks to God and the heroic efforts of Dr. Bob Wetzel and a host of doctors at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, our son made it. For us, Easter offers the opportunity to reflect on the profound miracle of the season in the most spiritual and personal way imaginable. Tyler Smith: My favorite Easter memories involved watching my children participate in their first Easter egg hunt and searching and finding their first Easter egg basket. Bryan Pasciak: I enjoy getting together with my family, eating a great meal and celebrating the most important holiday. Laura Pollard: My mother loves to decorate for holidays, and Easter is no exception. Every year, she puts out this statue of a bunny, and it has a really mean look on its face. I always teased her about the “scary bunny,” and even though I have not lived at home for several years now, she will still always text me a photo letting me know that the “scary bunny” is out on display, and the Easter season is upon us. Michelle Marinacci: Growing up, Easter meant my grandfather would make kibbee for our family’s Easter dinner. He only made kibbee on special occasions and, when he did, everyone was usually excluded from the kitchen except me. It was one of our special times together. Some of my most cherished childhood memories are of the hours I would spend with him in my grandparents’ kitchen, just the two of us, while he made kibbee (I “helped” by tasting) and we talked about anything and everything. Easter was probably his favorite holiday and it just hasn’t been the same since we lost him. Sharon Eubanks: My favorite memory goes way back to childhood and one that I reinvented for my three children: It was the Easter egg hunt! My parents would have to hide those eggs at least 20 times, and we would never tire of it. We did it alI day, after we got home from church. I did the same for my daughters, only with plastic eggs filled with candy. On a couple of accessions, we went to the Easter Egg Roll at the White House—an over the top egg hunt in every way! Jodi Cunningham: One of my favorite Easter memories as a child was hunting for eggs on Easter morning before heading to church. Linda Scaggs: I love Easter music. I never tire of “Up From the Grave He Arose” or “Christ the Lord is Risen Today,” with all the Hallelujahs! Corey Pietranton: While growing up in Moundsville, my favorite Easter memories were made at my grandparent’s house on South Highland Avenue. Their tiny house was always packed with wonderful people, great food and lots of laughter. They hosted an annual Easter egg hunt for their grandchildren, nieces, nephews and friends, which always turned into an epic battle to find the egg with money hidden inside. Jeanne Dedo: Easter was all about getting dressed up in our new dresses, hats, gloves and shoes, and going to Mass first thing in the morning. We would then come home and have the whole family over for dinner. Getting our Easter baskets was a plus, too! Susan Wilson: Easter has been (as a mom) one of my most favorite holidays where you dress your children up—in my case two boys—in their suits for church, the Easter egg hunt on the lawn, and then Sunday dinner at my mother-in-law’s house. The past several years, I have “inherited” Easter dinner from my mother-in-law who hosted my rather large family for many, many years while the boys were growing up. I am now continuing the tradition and we all enjoy the pretty Easter flowers, the decorated eggs, good food and everyone just being together. Marilyn Bell: I always remember getting a new Easter dress for church, including new white patent leather shoes, white gloves and sometimes a hat, and going to church all decked out! And especially loved getting up very early on Easter morning and hunting for my Easter basket. One year, I remember the “Easter Bunny” hid my basket in the oven!! Today, I have a greater appreciation for Easter. The greatest gift ever – a Risen Savior! Ellie Wallace: When our children were little, my sisters and I would gather at my mom and dad’s to color Easter eggs. One year when we were preparing and setting the cups of colored water around the table my daughter, Tonya, who was maybe 1 or 2 at the time reached over, grabbed one of the cups and began drinking it before we could pull it away from her. She thought it was Kool-Aid. Becky Murphy: Easter is the BEST holiday because JESUS died for our sins and rose from the dead three days later. HOW GLORIOUS IS THAT!? Ryan McQuaid: Fun factoid: The name Easter owes its origin to Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes the hare and egg. Crystal Shaver: It was Easter Sunday. I was at church sitting in a pew with my family, and it was time to pray. So I closed my eyes, put my head down, and put my hands in my lap, when all of the sudden, I heard a loud popping sound, and then felt a burning sensation on my right hand. When I opened my eyes, there was blood coming from my right index finger running down on to my Easter dress. Of course I screamed, and everyone turned to look. The light bulb directly above me had burst, and the glass came down and cut my finger. We had to leave church and go to the hospital. I ended up getting three stiches in my finger, and I still have the scar today. And I never close my eyes during prayer ever since that happened. Sherry Sharpsky:. I used to love playing “Easter Bunny” for my kids when they were little…shopping for their Easter baskets and filling them with candy, toys and their favorite things. At night, when they were asleep, I would sprinkle Easter grass on the floor, close to where I would hide their baskets, and they thought that was so neat! Then, as they would sit in the floor eating chocolate bunnies for breakfast, they would talk of how they heard the Easter bunny hopping through the house with their baskets. Sally Blon: A favorite childhood memory of Easter was waking up and running downstairs to find my basket. My mom wrapped our baskets with see-through colored wrap, and all of us kids got our own color so we could tell them apart. I always loved the first look of my Easter basket because it was so pretty–that is until I tore the plastic wrap off to get to the chocolate bunny! Erin Dodd: Sitting at lunch the other day with my husband and my daughter, Aleigha, she said, “What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Easter?” My husband said, “The Easter Bunny.” I said, “He Has Risen.” She responded, “You’re right, mamma. That’s what it should be, but most people answer like Dad did.” At that moment, I realized the beauty of Easter that I have held dear all these years has carried over to my daughter just the way I wanted. That makes this year my best Easter memory ever. It’s not about the candy, the eggs or the bunny. It’s not about the bonnet or the spring dresses or the ham on the table and the hunting for baskets, it’s about HIM. So, knowing and celebrating the true meaning is most important to me. Amy Wilson: Best memories of Easter as a child - the church Easter egg hunts. As a little tike, I was in awe at seeking the beautiful brightly colored Easter eggs scattered throughout the church lawn. Darcy Springer: As for most, if not all Christians, the crucifixion is the most important element of Easter. The Easter bunny and eggs and everything else are a nice tradition but Christ dying on the cross is the real celebration. My favorite memories as a kid on Easter was getting a brand new dress, patent leather shoes, a bonnet and best of all, a new little purse! My favorite memories with my own kids on Easter were hiding their Easter baskets and them running all over the house in their jammies hunting the baskets. Krystal Clark: Since I was a little girl,I have always enjoyed Easter. Probably my fondest memory of Easter growing up was when all of my relatives from my dad’s side of the family would come to our house the day before as they lived out of state and would crash at our house over night for the festivities. We had a pretty large house growing up, but never enough space to house everyone comfortably. Therefore I would wake up Easter morning and have cousins sleeping on my bedroom floor. I would rush downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny brought me. I remember the excitement as I uncovered all of the goodies from my basket. My mom and dad would spend a greater portion of the day preparing the meal for the entire family. All of us kids would spend the day eating our candy and playing with our new toys. Since we have had our daughter, we started a tradition of our own where we leave a candy trail through the house leading to her Easter basket. We give her a bowl to pick up the candy as she goes along and just watching her face in excitement and anticipation and one of the best feelings in the world. Then later in the day we get together with all of her cousins and grandma and have an Easter egg hunt and a family dinner. It is such a joy to watch all of the kids have fun hunting for all of the eggs filled with all sorts of goodies. Tricia Pennell: Hiding my children’s Easter baskets is my favorite Easter memory. Because they are 7 ½ years apart in age, it was fun to hide one in an easy place and the other in a really hard place! They both inevitably helped each other look for the baskets. Sheila Cottrell: One Easter when we were kids we got six living, colored (dyed) Easter chicks, which were sold at the old McCrory’s store in Moundsville every year during Easter. We had a blast playing with them when they were little and thought they would grow up and lay eggs….the only problem is that they ended up being all roosters. I remember letting them out of the chicken coop to feed in the yard, and they would chase us and peck at our heels! I really don’t like chickens anymore…unless they are breaded and fried. Jenn Mohney: My favorite memory of Easter when I was younger was waking up in Florida at my grandparents. I got to spend the day with a church service, shuffle board with my grandpa, a big family meal and searching for my basket full of eggs from the Easter bunny. Although this tradition is now a thing of the past, I’ll never forget the great memories it created. Ashley Wharton: I love spending the day with my family and watching my nieces and nephews hunt for their Easter baskets. If I’m lucky they share some of their sweet treats with me! Most importantly, I enjoy celebrating the most important holiday by attending Mass with my family. Jenna Tipton: Reminiscing on this special season, I see the sunshine smiling on lilies in my parents’ yard, coaxing them from bud to bloom. I feel the excitement of a child, recalling the search for each of the Easter Bunny’s “clues” that eventually lead to a basket. My Mom's handwriting was remarkably similar to his. I hear the sounds of awakening and rebirth all around us, and they fill my heart with thanks. Most at Easter, I treasure my family. Thank you for reading and have a blessed and happy Easter 2016!