Of Easter and Traditions

I had a wonderful Easter today. Leorah had bought a bunch of candy and made me an Easter basket and hidden eggs around the house when I woke up this morning. It was really sweet and cute of her, though now we have pounds of candy to tempt us. Lucky you if you work with me: expect candy on my desk tomorrow! After the egg hunt I made us a yummy omelet, took a 2 hour break, then returned to spend the next few hours in the kitchen cleaning and making a ham dinner. Ham is pretty essential to my memories of Easter, as much so as chocolate and eggs, and it started me thinking about my family's traditions in general.

In my family certain holidays have certain meals associated with them (ham for Easter, cioppino on X-mass eve, corned beef on St. Patty's, and of course turkey for Turkey Day). On other holidays we may not have a specific dish or meal, but we always tend to celebrate with a big meal (with a few exceptions: I can't think of any big Halloween dinners in my past). Even now that it's just me and Leorah on most holidays I usually find myself cooking more than enough food to feed a family of four (or provide us with leftovers for a couple weeks).

Cooking's not our only tradition, but it is the one that always leaves me the most satisfied when I can't visit home for a holiday, and it's the one I miss the most when I don't celebrate something. Do any of you (the two people who've been checking the blog consistently) have any traditions that you value the way I do food? What is it, and why is that tradition important to you? Leave your answers in the comments (ooh, that request made me feel so bloggerific!).