Thursday, April 13, 2006

Chocolate Fish

I saw all these lines in the market today, actual lines in front of the fish stalls. And there was this momentary pause of, “What´s the big deal about tuna today?” before remembering that tomorrow is Good Friday. No meat. Easter is odd here, all about chocolate and Christ´s birth, but the Baptists don´t even celebrate Palm Sunday. It was just another Sunday, nothing special. I wanted to run down to the Catholic church and grab a couple of palm branches...it bothers me that the Protestant side of the Church isn´t all that interested in celebration or tradition or in memorials of faith. Baptists beware: your rejection of all that is interesting and mystical about faith is what drives people like me over to your sworn enemies...with incense and liturgy and garments and a church calendar!

The chocolate side of Easter is huge baskets and hollow eggs full of candy bars. No one makes anything. They buy it all, pre-glittered and wrapped and hideous. The supermarkets have these canopies of eggs wrapped in bright, primary foil that makes me hallucinate and feel very, very claustrophobic; I´m not sure if we´re supposed to reach up and just grab one out of the sky or what.

I received an Easter basket from an admirer. It was large, with all the wrapping about two feet high. The contents were as follows:
-chocolate pound cake
-chocolate wafers
-a Coke
-a boxed chocolate milk
-one hollow chocolate egg I have managed to break without opening the package. Smooth.
-about fifteen assorted bomboms
-a heart shaped plastic case containing two “special” chocolates
-a small white bunny with an “I love you” super-glued to his chest

I emptied the basket and put it to good use organizing the contents of my dresser. I ate some of the chocolate until my hands swelled from the sugar (n.b. sugar is apparently bad for my arthritis this month). Now I´m going to be cheap and buy some cute bags, repackage everything, and give it to my friends for Easter presents.

Though a sweet, cloyingly so, gesture, I am not interested in the dude. So I don´t feel all that guilty about giving it all away!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi jenna. it's laura brenner. things are well here- praying that things are well there. question...fernando's email address. do you have it? be well friend.

--jenna said...

laura...fernando wants your email...drop me a line at my wmf addy and i'll pass it on to him on sunday!