I'm going to go ahead and let my dad explain why my family eats chips and dip every year for Easter. It is pretty much mandatory at this point.
"While she was growing up, Easter was a big holiday in your mom’s house. There are photos every year of the entire family each Easter all wearing their bright new Easter clothes and getting ready to go to church. Your mom knew the year of the picture by the dress that she was wearing. Your mom described very detailed family rituals for where the eggs were hidden, what was in each basket, and most important the required Easter dinner menu. My memory is that it was as elaborate as a Thanksgiving type meal, except with ham as the primary meat serving. Your mom and I spent the first Easter that we were married in Lawrence, Kansas. We were living in student housing and didn’t have much money. On Easter Day of 1978, we were very busy and certainly didn’t feel like cooking or boiling eggs and definitely didn’t want to bake a ham. We were just happy to be enjoying spring and looking forward to moving to our new home in Pittsburgh in May. When Nonnie and Grandpa called, they asked what we were having for Easter dinner, and I accurately told them “chips and dip.” We actually were quite content with the “meal” – but every year after that we laughed about the Easter in Lawrence. The story was humorous mostly because your mom felt that somehow she was “not doing her job” by failing to follow her family rituals – and so this was a perfect teasing opportunity for the rest of us. So, “chips and dip” has been part of our Easter meal every year since 1978. The full menus and location varied widely over the 31 years, but each Easter we always had “chips and dip” on Easter Day."
So, this year that's what Jake and I ate as our meal. We had a couple of other snacky things like carrots and humus, but the meal was centered around the chips and dip. Which is nice because I really didn't feel like cooking a ham.
