I can't remember a time I have ever sat in a full Easter Sunday service at church. Actually, I should say, I can't remember a time I have ever heard and Easter sermon preached. Seriously. I've been going to church all my life, and never once! I love the Easter songs, taking the offering, greeting everyone Easter Sunday. But when the pastor gets up to the stage and begins the sermon, me, my siblings, my Grandpa and Bill would sneak out of church, and the fun would begin.
Actually, the fun began a few evenings before Easter Sunday. My family would go over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and do "the Easter Beagle". Grandpa got bags and bags and bags of jelly beans, robin eggs, and peanut m&m's. We would put some Easter grass in baggies with a note, and then fill the bags with the candy. We got an assembly line going, and made fun of people who were falling behind. Of course, when each new bag of candy was opened, you would "check for ugly candy" and dispose of it right away...I even remember picking out the black jelly beans because Grandpa said they were not an "Easter color". We would spend a good 2 hours putting these things together and just wait for Easter Sunday.
So, back to church - well, sneaking out of church. My siblings, Grandpa, and Bill would sneak out of church and meet at Grandma's car to get the Easter Beagle candy out. We then went around the parking lot and street along the church and hung the bags of candy on the driver-side mirror. It was the Easter Beagle's way of saying Happy Easter! It's a tradition I grew up doing, and has now become part of my Easter tradition.
I am pleased to say that I still have not been to a single Easter sermon! This year I got some friends together, and we did the Easter Beagle! I explained to them the story behind it, and they all loved it. So we got together Saturday night to make the bags - 272 to be exact (as you can see from the picture below)
Sunday morning rolls around. The night before it decides to snow about six inches. So here we are, getting ready to do Easter Beagle at church in about six inches of slush in our Easter best. Not ideal, but welcome to Juneau. We were laughing at the rediculousness of the situation. But we did it! It was so fun watching people get the bags off their cars and look at it very confused.
So I'm happy to announce that the Easter Beagle has reached Juneau Alaska! I'm sure my Grandpa is so proud and laughed at us all morning from heaven. But shhhh! Don't tell anyone - the Easter Beagle is supposed to be a secret...
Blessings!
