fattyprejudice


Myspace Graphics, Mother’s Day Graphics at WishAFriend.com

I  know this is off topic, but it made me so mad and I thought it was just dumb enough to be hilarious that I had to share it here.  Some of you may or may not know that my husband is a German national, he immigrated here to the United States in 2001 to be with me.  His family and friends are still in Germany and they often send us his favorite things, anything from magazines to chocolate.  My 3 year old granddaughter loves these special chocolate eggs called Kinder  Uebarraschungs Eier (Childrens Suprise Eggs), they are hollow chocolate, shaped like an egg with a plastic capsule inside (about the size of a small egg) with a small toy that usually requires assembly.   We tell her that her great grandparents from germany have a chocolate delivery bird who brings them (we do this because we get about a dozen at a time and don’t want her to know that because she will want them all at once), she loves this, every day she asks if the “Chocolate bird” came LOL!  Ah the innocence of children. 

Anyway, I digress. Well one of my husband’s friends sent my him some of his favorite german television shows on dvd and along with that, a small Easter package with Kinder chocolate, which included a chocolate bunny, some small chocolates and 2 of the Kinder chocolate surprise eggs–the kinder chocolate is great for small children because it does not melt as fast as regular chocolate and is a little firmer, not hard, but almost chewy.  Well… I guess U.S. Customs decided to open this package of chocolate goodies and investigate them.  We noticed that it had been cut open with a box cutter (the childrens package) and it was obvious that a few things were missing.  Later in the day we recieved a certified letter from customs telling us that they had confiscated the Kinder Surprise Eggs because they were a “threat” to the United States!!! Are you kidding me?? Chocolate eggs???  There was no other explaination except that the value of the eggs was assessed to be $2.00 american.  I am assuming it was the small toys inside that may have small parts, I can’t figure any other reason these would be confiscate but all the other chocolates, including some of my favorite german chocolate bars were ok to send.  I guess you could put a small explosive device in an egg sized chocolate.. do you think??  Anyway, after we got over the surprise and the anger at the stupidity of it, we had a good laugh.  Have any of you had any similar experiences?  What do you think, could these innocent looking chocolate candies be a threat to US Security??  LOL!! Go Figure.

Happy Easter to you all. I understand that some of you don’t celebrate easter, either for your own religious  or non-religious reasons, and I respect that.  In our household, we celebrate with the Easter Bunny bringing easter baskets full of jelly beans, chocolate bunnies and other goodies to delight any child.  While this may seem sacreligious to some of you, it is how I was raised.  On that note, we also celebrate the reason for the season, which is the day that a very special man rose from the dead after being persecuted and crucified for our sins.  Jesus traveled a very long road with both faithful followers and enemies alike, spreading the word of his lord and father.  His doctrine is the number one best seller for many many years, you may have heard of it, it is called “The Bible”.  He died for our sins, only to rise again to sit at his father’s right hand to rule the kingdom of heaven.  I have done some reading to understand how Easter is celebrated in some other countries because my husband is from Germany and we live in America.  Since I was not raised Catholic as my husband was, I wanted to understand the way that his family celebrates and compare it to how we celebrate.  The source for the following is from wikipedia.  You can follow the link and learn more about how Easter is celebrated in other countries.  I hope you find this as interesting as I did.

“Western Christianity

In Western Christianity, Easter marks the end of Lent, a period of fasting and penitence in preparation for Easter, which begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts forty days (not counting Sundays).

The week before Easter, known as Holy Week, is very special in the Christian tradition. The Sunday before Easter is Palm Sunday and the last three days before Easter are Maundy Thursday or Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday (sometimes referred to as Silent Saturday). Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday respectively commemorate Jesus’ entry in Jerusalem, the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday are sometimes referred to as the Easter Triduum (Latin for “Three Days”). In some countries, Easter lasts two days, with the second called “Easter Monday.” The week beginning with Easter Sunday is called Easter Week or the Octave of Easter, and each day is prefaced with “Easter”, e.g. Easter Monday, Easter Tuesday, etc. Easter Saturday is therefore the Saturday after Easter Sunday. The day before Easter is properly called Holy Saturday. Many churches begin celebrating Easter late in the evening of Holy Saturday at a service called the Easter Vigil.

Eastertide, or Paschaltide, the season of Easter, begins on Easter Sunday and lasts until the day of Pentecost, seven weeks later.

 English Speaking World

Coloured Easter eggs in the United States.Throughout North America, the British Isles, New Zealand and Australia the Easter holiday has been partially secularized, so that somefamilies participate only in the attendant revelry, central to which is (traditionally) decorating Easter eggs on Saturday evening and hunting for them Sunday morning, by which time they have been mysteriously hidden all over the house and garden. Chocolate eggs have largely supplanted decorated eggs in New Zealand and Australia.

In North America, Australia and New Zealand, parents often tell their children that eggs and other treats have been delivered and hidden by the Easter Bunny in an Easter basket which children find waiting for them when they wake up. Many families in America will attend Sunday Mass or services in the morning and then participate in a feast or party in the afternoon; the food cooked for the feast and the customs practiced at the feast may be influenced by Jewish cuisine and the Jewish holiday of Passover.In the UK children still decorate eggs, but most British people simply exchange chocolate eggs on the Sunday. Chocolate Easter Bunnies can be found in shops. Many families have a traditional Sunday roast, particularly roast lamb, and some eat Easter foods such as Simnel cake, a fruit cake with eleven marzipan balls representing the eleven faithful apostles. Hot cross buns, spiced buns with a cross on top, are traditionally associated with Good Friday, but today are often eaten well before and after. In Scotland, the north of England, and Northern Ireland, the traditions of rolling decorated eggs down steep hills and pace egging are still adhered to.

In the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda, the most notable feature of the Easter celebration is the flying of kites to symbolize Christ’s ascent.^[48] Traditional Bermuda kites are constructed by Bermudians of all ages as Easter approaches, and are normally only flown at Easter. In addition to hot cross buns and Easter eggs, fish cakes are traditionally eaten in Bermuda at this time.

Belgium and France

Flemish-speaking Belgium shares many of the same traditions as North America but sometimes it’s said that the Bells of Rome bring the Easter eggs together with the Easter Bunny. The story goes that the bells of every church leave for Rome on Holy Saturday, called “Stille Zaterdag” (literally “Silent Saturday”) in Dutch. So, because the bells are in Rome, the bells don’t ring anywhere.

Similarly, in French-speaking Belgium and France, “Easter bells” (« les cloches de Pâques ») also bring Easter eggs. However, bells in churches are silent beginning Maundy Thursday, the first day of the Paschal Triduum, as a sign of mourning. It is said that all of the bells depart for Rome and return on Easter Day bringing eggs with them to drop during their passage.

Netherlands and Northern Germany

People watching the Easter fire in ‘De Achterhoek’ in eastern Netherlands

In the northern and eastern parts of the Netherlands (Twente and Achterhoek), Easter Fires (in Dutch: “Paasvuur”) are lit on Easter Day at sunset. Easter Fires also take place on the same day in large portions of Northern Germany (”Osterfeuer”).“

If you would like information pertaining to the history of Easter, and more on how it is celebrated in different countries, head on over to Wikipedia via this link.  It is filled with more information than you  probably ever wanted to know!

Have a blessed day!

Here it is, the day after Christmas and man do I have a mess on my hands!  My kids and my granddaughter were here yesterday and the dishes are in the sink to prove it!  We really had fun watching my granddaughter opening all of her gifts from us and Santa (This year, “Santa” was courtesy of the employees of the railroad my husband works for-see my previous post regarding this), but I couldn’t help but notice how greedy she Continue Reading »

The scenerio: You get called at the last minute to attend a dinner for Christmas but you have no money and even if you did, you have no time to go out and buy a gift.  So, you go to the dinner, feeling a bit embarrassed and worried about what you will do when the time for gift giving comes.  You fiddle with your fingers, look in your purse for a tissue and you find… a gift card that someone had given you for your birthday a few weeks earlier Continue Reading »

With Christmas upon us, I find myself becoming more and more depressed about my own situation.  As I have stated in previous postings, I am unemployed and having a very hard time finding a job.  My husband is also not working, it’s not that he doesn’t have a job, because he does, he Continue Reading »

You know how it is, we’ve all been there and many of us are there right now!  The holidays are upon us and co-workers are bringing in the cookies and the fudge and the cakes and the boxes of Chocolates and they say “I brought this in because Suzy gave it to me and I don’t want it to go to my hips.”  While these people are all well meaning and we do appreciate the sentiment, our bodies are taking a beating with all the goodies out there that are all but impossible to resist!  Now, don’t get me wrong, I love this stuff, but being diabetic and overweight, it’s not really the best thing for my health.  I try Continue Reading »