Easter: Browse The Strips
Sunday, March 30, 1997
Sunday, April 12, 1998
Foreign-Language Versions:
If there's a non-English version of this strip available, it'll show up below. Or, you can browse our entire collection on this page.
Spanish Strip:
Sunday, April 4, 1999
Foreign-Language Versions:
If there's a non-English version of this strip available, it'll show up below. Or, you can browse our entire collection on this page.
Spanish Strip:
Sunday, April 23, 2000
Sunday, March 31, 2002
Foreign-Language Versions:
If there's a non-English version of this strip available, it'll show up below. Or, you can browse our entire collection on this page.
Spanish Strip:
Sunday, April 20, 2003
Sunday, April 11, 2004
Foreign-Language Versions:
If there's a non-English version of this strip available, it'll show up below. Or, you can browse our entire collection on this page.
Spanish Strip:
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Sunday, April 8, 2007
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Lynn's Comments: My parents loved fantasy. When it came to things like tooth fairies and Santa and the Easter bunny, they went all out. At Easter, our tradition was the "bunny box". Dad would find a cardboard box at the store that was the right size and depth. He would cut it so that one long side was high, the other long side low and the two short ends were cut in an "S" shape to form a fancy display container. We would then decorate this with crepe paper, ribbons and anything else we thought would entice the "E.B." to leave us something special. It didn't matter if there was a dubious side to the story of a magic rabbit - the lure of chocolate and perhaps a small gift was enough to keep this tradition alive for years.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Lynn's Comments: My folks were ingenious at keeping the fantasy going. Both could concoct stories that kept us wide-eyed and gullible. Dad reasoned that rabbits were everywhere, but never seen - which was true. They certainly did a number on our garden. My mother, though eager to teach us everything about science and nature, went far beyond the old "as long as you believe, he exists" thing and asked us to prove the Easter Bunny did NOT exist...which, until we were at the skeptical age of eight, was pretty hard to do. The fact was that it was fun to believe and it was fun to prepare and there was always the fear that if the spell were broken, we'd have no chocolate at all!
Friday, April 22, 2011
Lynn's Comments: Tootie, our teenaged neighbor next door, had chickens which she raised as pets...and for experimentation. One spring, after corn soaked in food colouring failed to colour the eggs, she dyed the chicks instead. Like tiny wind-up toys, blue, pink, green and orange balls of fluff ran about the wire enclosure. Alan and I were thrilled with them and were at the coop every day until the colour wore off and their stubbly brown adult feathers started to grow in.
One day, Tootie let us watch a hen lay an egg. We were both fascinated and appalled.
"Is THAT where they come from?" we asked. It was our first introduction to the mystery of birth and we were keen to know more. Unwilling to tell us too much too soon, our parents explained that this was where birds came from - and as far as we were concerned, that was information enough. This was one truth that really was stranger than fiction!
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Lynn's Comments: Colouring eggs was one of the best things about Easter. Mom would boil up eggs, soak them briefly in vinegar to erode the shells and then set out dishes of dye for us to dip them in. The dye kit came with a small metal wand, looped at one end to hold an egg. If you were careful, you could dip one end of the egg in dye, turn it over and dip the other end in a different colour. Not one to do things without a flourish, Mom helped us draw on the eggs with white wax crayon which resisted the dye and left our doodles and designs the colour of the shell.
We applied stickers and feathers and plastic eyeballs to our coloured eggs and when we were done, they were put in the fridge until Easter night, when the Easter bunny would hide them, along with chocolate and candy eggs as well. In the morning, after the hunt, we'd put them in the "bunny box". Already in the bunny box was a chocolate bunny for each of us, which we'd eat before breakfast - ears first.
Alan and I found out where the eggs had come from (as demonstrated by Tootie's chickens) but this was no longer an issue. The magic and the fantasy always returned with flying colours!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Lynn's Comments: These are the thoughts I had as I sat in church with my mother, listening to the Easter morning service. Our Anglican minister put a heavy focus on the death of Jesus and we were all made to feel responsible!
"It's because of YOU that he died! You are all SINNERS!!! You nailed Him to the cross!"
I was eight years old and I thought..."But, I wasn't there! I wasn't responsible! I wasn't even BORN yet!"
Years later, when my children asked to know more about the Easter story, I tried to tell it in a way that they could understand - putting the blame on a time when people were unjustly condemned all the time. I think this helped to separate them from a tragedy that occurred two thousand years ago and allowed them to focus on the message, the meaning and what was achieved.
This cartoon was done after Aaron and I had watched a movie together - I think it was "Ben Hur". He was so moved by the crucifixion that he wished he had been there to prevent it. It was an exceptional moment that we shared together and we talked about it for some time. This is one instance when I had an opportunity to talk about some really serious concepts with my son, and I hope used it well.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Lynn's Comments: I still have this little outfit, carefully preserved in my closet upstairs. Some things you just shouldn't part with!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Lynn's Comments: Katie did not want to go to the Easter Parade. She didn't want to be in the parade. She didn't want to wear the hat. What finally persuaded her to go was Aaron saying that he'd get all the chocolate, the cake, and the other goodies and she'd get none. Even though I was not pleased with his sentiments, I appreciated his help.
Friday, April 6, 2012
Lynn's Comments: The concept of being born a sinner confused me. As a kid, I was unable to process this--it just didn't make sense. I hoped in time I'd understand. I'm still waiting.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Lynn's Comments: One tradition we really enjoyed every Easter was colouring eggs. My mother was a fine artist who tried every technique she could find to make our eggs different from the norm. She had us work with white wax crayons which kept the dye from colouring the shell. We then warmed and wiped off the wax so that another colour could be added where the wax had been. This was similar to the way the beautifully decorated eggs are done in the Ukrainian style. Ours were rough and "kid-like" but neat, just the same. She mixed vegetable oil with the dye to create swirling patterns. She put rubber bands around the eggs to make straight lines so we could draw around them. For us it was an art lesson as well as a great way to prepare for the coming of the E.B. who would hide them in the night!
Eating the eggs we had so carefully coloured was difficult because we hated to destroy the shells. This resulted in mom's "Easter tree". She would carefully break each shell in half, use a needle to tie a thread to the top and hang the shells from the branches of a small shrub she'd placed in a vase. For us, Easter Sunday was as enjoyable as Christmas--and without the expense!
Eating the eggs we had so carefully coloured was difficult because we hated to destroy the shells. This resulted in mom's "Easter tree". She would carefully break each shell in half, use a needle to tie a thread to the top and hang the shells from the branches of a small shrub she'd placed in a vase. For us, Easter Sunday was as enjoyable as Christmas--and without the expense!
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Lynn's Comments: This was a story my dad told us; "If you get up early on Easter Sunday morning, you will see the sun dance as it rises." Dutifully, Alan and I would get up to see if the story was true, but we never saw the sun dance on Easter morning. I think Dad had bet on two things: one, he never expected my brother and me to actually get out of a warm bed so early and two, in Vancouver, it always seemed to rain on Easter. His explanation for why the sun hadn't danced was that we probably didn't BELIEVE enough! I guess we believed enough in the Easter bunny, though--because every year, he showed up without fail!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Lynn's Comments: Eldon Park was just down the lane from our house in Lynn Lake. It was a small space; room enough for a roundabout, a slide, and a three-seater swing set. The Kinsmen took care of the grounds and the equipment, and thanks to them, we had an Easter egg hunt each year. It was always a skirmish when the big kids got to the goodies first. Some parents helped the little kids, much to the annoyance of others, but we always managed to escape an altercation. I remember Katie standing by the fence upset because she couldn't find anything. To me, the eggs were visible everywhere, but when I squatted down to her level, I could see what the problem was. Everything was either too high or buried in the grass, which was too tall for her to see over. Sometimes, you really DO have to look at things from your child's point of view!
Monday, March 23, 2015
Lynn's Comments: My mother in law made the best cookies ever. I could never make them as well, because I can't seem to stick to a recipe. First of all, I hate to measure. It means extra time and extra utensils. I like instructions which say "a dash of this or a knob of that." When it comes to dinner, I'm a fairly good cook, but when it comes to the finer things like cookies and cakes, I defer to those who follow directions. This reminds me: my grandmother, when asked how she measured molasses would say: "two golollups and a drip". I loved that expression!
Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Lynn's Comments: Some of the best events I got myself into were the ones for which I was "volunteered". Because I couldn't say "no", bake sales, costume sewing bees and skating festivals were all part of my time in Lynn Lake Manitoba. Some of my favourite memories are of these of bee-hives of activity in the company of other moms trying to do everything for everyone all of the time!
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Friday, March 27, 2015
Lynn's Comments: This is one of my favourite punch lines. If you can work a famous line into a gag, it's very, very satisfying.
