First Holiday Away

 The cupcakes I made for Alex and Jo, since they gave up chocolate for Easter

So last Sunday was Easter, obviously. It was my first official holiday away from the family. Major one anyways. I have missed holidays before, since I lived on my own in Wisconsin for two years, but I either celebrated at a different time with my family or did not celebrate at all. This was my first major holiday celebrating with someone else's family. Yes, they technically will be my family officially one day as well. And I suppose then will start the great struggle of working out where we go for what holidays to make things fair. Something I do not look forward to for may reasons. 

As Easter approached I actually became a little nervous about things. What would Alex's family do to celebrate and how would I fit into that? They are not a religious family, but I am so how much would they be adjusting so that I could follow my beliefs? How much do I help out with things? What family would be there? I could go on for a long time with a list of boring questions. I will refrain. In summary, there was lots of questions I had.

I also questioned what my family would do. Its strange to think about how it would go on without me and what I would be missing. For a lot of holidays my family is in a bit of a transition I would say - we are getting used to having our own, immediate family holidays and creating our own traditions. How much would I be messing that up? 

Easter actually turned out not to be a big deal at all. I got up and went to church with Graham, returning to pretty much an unchanged household. It turned out to be a typical Sunday dinner with the edition of dessert, cheese and crackers, wine, his grandparents, and in the dining room off of the nice table setting. Not a big deal at all really. Then that night people came over to play board games and I skyped my family as usual. 

It was actually more of a big deal a few days before and a few after for me. Some of his family I have never met or had only met once before came for a visit. They did not stay at his house, but we went to visit them around the corner at his grandmother's house. It was not bad at all, but I felt a bit quiet because I was unfamiliar with a lot of what people spoke about. Which I think is natural since I am A) not from England and B) not part of the family. Everyone was nice and I enjoyed listening to their stories. 

It actually seems to be more important to partake in some of the other random traditions of this family. Apparently the big horse race of the season is coming up (perhaps tomorrow, I am not really sure) and it is common for people to bet on a horse. Betting is a huge thing here. People bet on every sport played. There are betting stores everywhere that you can go into to bet on a sport or play machines. Like a casino but not as nice and no chips to cash in. There are tons and tons of commericals on tv for betting websites - both for the sports stuff and for online poker or bingo. It is ridiculous how much it is about over here. Alex and his family are not at into all of that betting. I am not sure of anyone I know over here that is, actually. Anyways, apparently everyone bets on this big race of the season. They register online and bet just a pound on a horse or two. If they have a really good feeling then they might do more. 

Its an interesting tradition, really. Everyone watches the race together on tv and whatnot.Its going to be an interesting thing to try out. I guess theres not much to lose. I will probably just pick one with an amusing name. Either way, everyone seems more excited about this then they did about Easter. Seems odd to me but I guess that goes to show the difference in families and how they spend their time creating traditions.