My Hungarian-Russian godmother taught me how to say the above greeting and response in Russian - I can still speak the first part but not the response and I have no idea how to write them down!
This will be a somewhat lonely Easter for us. I sorely miss my 5 older children. Two are in Memphis TN, two are in Eugene OR, and one is in Los Angeles CA. How quickly it has gone from having to pull out extra chairs and tables for the evening meal, to just 3 of us around the table. I cook way too much food, I have still not learned how to cook for only 3 instead of 8 plus. We were always the house that fed the neighborhood. Now I give away casseroles to my friend with a young baby and another on the way. When our children were younger, we always went to their paternal grandparent's house for Easter. They would play and fight with their cousins while the adults made dinner and sat around, and later the older ones would hide eggs for the younger ones. Dinner was preceded by prayers, said standing in the living room in a great circle. We had a traditional prayer:
We thank you for the house in which we dwell
For the love that unites us
For the peace accorded us this day
For the hope with which we expect tomorrow
For the health, the work, the food
And the bright skies that makes our life delightful.
Amen
Followed by a traditional 'Bless us oh Lord" and ending with prayers for the souls of the faithful departed, the morning (or daily) offeratory, and sometimes a Hail Mary, Our Father, and Glory Be for all the intentions of those present.
Then we would take plates and serve buffet style and sit around 2 or 3 tables and eat and share.
A few years ago, my in-law's health started to fail, and we moved festal meals to houses of the next generation. Then, family by family, we all started to leave the Los Angeles area, and the get-togethers became fewer and fewer. My mother in law failed rapidly, and died shortly after we left for Oregon. Her funeral was a bittersweet reminder of the times we had been together as a family. My father in law died shortly after we moved to the East Coast, and his funeral was the last time we were all together as a family.
As we sit, the three of us, around our Easter meal, we will remember the missing members who are still here on earth, but also those family members who have 'gone before us, marked with the sign of the cross'. I pray that you all have a holy and happy Easter with whomever of your family and friends are with you.
