Easter means what to you?

Too often religious holidays get lost in the festivities that come along. It's fine to celebrate all the symbols of the holidays (i.e. Santa and the Easter Bunny). Remember though, these holidays wouldn't even be in existence without the religious aspect of Jesus' birth and rising from the dead. Christmas is slowly losing sight of Jesus's birth to a big guy in a red suit with a white beard. More than Christmas, Easter has lost way to an egg bearing bunny. I took the time this week to ask a few kids in my neighborhood what Easter meant to them. I was a little shocked when the "true meaning" of Easter was candy, baskets and the Easter Bunny. At my house the holidays are more simple. We told our three daughters we had asked Santa and the Easter Bunny to keep it simple so we dont lose sight of what's important. For Easter, that would be the rising of Christ. The whole reason we have Easter.
In our house we wake up to what the Easter Bunny brought and do the Easter egg hunt with my sister-in-law's family. We hang out for a while and eventually everyone goes home with a full belly and some amazing memories from the days festivities. Then, we as a family, talk to our kids about the real meaning of Easter. We have also made it a tradition in our house to watch "The Passion of the Christ" every year to help our kids understand what had to happen for us to have Easter.
I am not a "religious fanatic" and truly believe that everyone has the right to worship in whatever manner one chooses to do so. But at the same time, I do not feel that religious holidays should not be altered to keep from offending people so much in fact that the end result has little to no resemblance of the beginning. Christmas has alternatives like Hannukah, Kwanzaa and even Festivus. For the non-religious, maybe there should be the "Easter Eggapalooza"! With that said, I want to personally wish each and every one of you a Happy Easter!