Easter Egg Rolling on Parliament Hill

Egg Rolling turned out to be quite fun. We gathered in the Garden Gate pub with two painted hard-boiled eggs each. Jorge and I decorated ours with nail polish, Lucy and Danny with water colours and Sharpies, and Kasia and Janka with markers. We sat near the fireplace and asked a friendly and cooperative bartender to judge the best design for the winning prize of Cadbury’s caramel eggs. He chose Janka’s:

And then we set out for Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath on a misty Easter afternoon to scope out the best slope with the fewest grass tufts.

And the games began!

Afterwards, we had to scope out the carnage, check on the survivors that could go on to round two and gather the casualties into the egg graveyard. Here’s the wreckage:

And the graveyard:

But the winner who rolled the furthest was Danny’s egg! Prize: Big chocolate egg with smarties. Yum!

And so concludes my first experience of egg rolling on Easter.

Do you colour eggs for Easter? Is egg rolling part of your Easter traditions? Where do you go for it? And where, for that matter, is the steepest hill in London? Anyone know? (Alexandra Palace? Primrose Hill?)

All this Easter talk and I need some chocolate! Chao!

Happy Easter!

The Big Egg Hunt Eggstravaganza by ThePhotoSchool

Celebrating family holidays is always a bit different as an expat. I’ve had orphan Thanksgivings, orphan Christmases and orphan Easters where we gather up a group of friends who are also expats (or British but don’t traditionally celebrate that holiday with their own families) and we make it our own.

They’re far from the norm, but they’re fun, these holidays. We share stories about how we traditionally celebrate them at home and sometimes we celebrate holidays we’ve never even heard of before because a friend doesn’t have anyone to celebrate with. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve gotten to celebrate Thanksgiving who aren’t American and I’ve celebrated Diwali most years.

When we were kids, we’d wake up in the morning and search for giant baskets full of giant chocolate bunnies and other goodies hidden in strategic places around the house. A few days before, we’d boil and dye Easter eggs which we’d eat Easter morning then gather the family around for a giant ham dinner.

Last year, I spent Easter in the very religious country of Colombia where the whole week of Semana Santa is a celebration. This year, I’m in London again and I’m going egg rolling at Alexandra Palace. New to me, but I hope I win! Wish me luck.

What are your plans? What’s your favourite way to celebrate a holiday as an expat? 

Happy Easter everyone!