Easter

When I was a kid, Easter meant getting a brand-new Sunday outfit -- with new shoes and a new hat --to wear to Easter service at Trinity Methodist.

The sanctuary would be packed with families decked out in their new Easter finery. The bottom panels of the tall stained glass windows would be swung open to the spring breeze, and the altar would be luminous with fragrant white lilies, as we sang "Christ the Lord is risen today...".

Afterward, there would be Easter dinner, with ham and sweet potatoes and a dozen other good things to eat, and Easter egg hunts in the rock garden behind our house.

By the Western Calendar, Easter falls on April 12 this year -- and on April 19 by the Eastern Orthodox Calendar.

At right, an Easter display in an office window on 5th Avenue.