My family usually has a lot of drama on holidays because there are so many of us. Easter is no different.

Over the years, we have added more people to our numbers on these special occasions. My usual holiday includes me, my parents, my sister, my twin brothers, my younger brother and my mom’s parents. If we are at my house, then two dogs and cats are roaming around as well — along with the occasional stray farm animal. 

My sister has basically been with her current husband for as long as I can remember because of the twelve-year age difference, so we can usually expect him to. My brothers — who are seven years older than me — have also wanted to bring someone to one holiday or another, which provides entertainment in and of itself. My younger brother is pretty chill about these family events, so we team up on holidays — so long as he isn’t sleeping through the family ordeal. 

My family also leaves our doors open for anyone else who may want to come, so my siblings and I have had a running rotation of close friends who stop by sometimes, too. Suffice it to say, it’s a lot considering my parents are always hosting. 

I’ll be honest, I’m a sucker for tradition when it comes to holidays. We love to all go out — especially my mom. You can expect multiple boxes of decorations for any and every holiday — she doesn’t leave any out.

Being with my family matters most to me of course, but our odd traditions get me extra excited for when we gather. For example, on Halloween we always have tacos and cake, we open two Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve and then have a sleepover in my older brothers’ room, we make sushi and chocolate-covered strawberries on Valentine’s Day, we have a lobster boil on the Fourth of July and so on.  

For some reason Easter doesn’t really have a set tradition for us — maybe because with so many older siblings sometimes we travel to a college town or somewhere closer to them that is fun for a short weekend. We usually get up to some interesting activities, though. Last year we played an adult version of an Easter egg hunt with go-karts and high-stakes prizes hidden around our yard because we didn’t have any kids in the family at the time. A few years before that, we drove to Edisto Beach, SC and had a week full of badminton tournaments and bike rides to this hole-in-the-wall pizza place.

The best memory I have was when we went to visit my sister studying abroad in Florence. We stayed on the Amalfi Coast for a few days before traveling to her on Easter, and we took her best friend with us. We have family pictures with him in the center of the shots and her nowhere to be found — which is still a point of contention for her whenever she walks in our dining room — though we think it’s the funniest thing ever. 

The only true staples of Easter — no matter where we are for the holiday — are the great food, the terrible chore of doing the dishes that my siblings and I fought over for far too long and the Easter baskets. Whoever comes to our Easter celebration gets one of these famous baskets, which I think is a pretty great thing. My mom and dad pull out all the stops, giving out this great Baltimore candy called Rheb’s, Fisher’s Popcorn (a Delaware/Maryland specialty), Old Bay hot sauce (that’s usually for whoever is out of state at the time, we aren’t giving out Old Bay like dollar bills) and then very particular gifts for each person.