Easter – DiabetesDad

Passover-Easter: Fun Factoids About Both—-Enjoy!!!!

Posted on April 4, 2015 | by tomkarlya | Leave a Comment

Apart from English and German, the name of ‘Easter’ has been derived from Pesach, the Hebrew name of Passover festival.

“Easter says you can put truth in a grave, but it won’t stay there.” Clarence W. Hall

The date of Passover is variable as it is dependent on the phases of the moon, and thus Easter is also a movable feast.

Easter Bonnets are a throw back to the days when the people denied themselves the pleasure of wearing finery for the duration of Lent.

Even if Moses is the most important human figure in the Passover story, he is mentioned only once in the Haggadah

Good Idea: Finding Easter eggs on Easter Sunday.
Bad Idea: Finding Easter eggs at Thanksgiving.
FACT: 600 million eggs are usually sold in USA during the months of March and April.

During World War I, in Vilna, Poland, when it was very difficult to find kosher wine, the rabbinical authorities made a special announcement to allow sweet tea in the Seder ceremony, instead of the traditional four cups of wine.

Since 1878 the White House Easter Egg Roll has taken place on the South Lawn. The Easter tradition was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes.

Passover holiday has three names: Pesach – literally meaning the Passover sacrifice; Hag Hamatzot – Feast of Unleavened Bread; and Zeman Heirutenu – the Season of Our Freedom.

The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.

There is no such thing as the Easter Bunny:
Yeah, and Peter Rabbit didn’t think Mr. McGregor was going to catch him in the cabbage patch either — get with the times.
FACT: On Easter, 76% people bite off the chocolate bunny ears first, while 5% bite the feet first and 4% eat the tail first

In the mid-20th century, it used to take as much as 27 hours to make a marshmallow peep. Today, the time has been reduced to six minutes.

The information above was scouted from a ton of sources and I hope you enjoyed them. These Holidays are sacred times for many who believe. May you walk one step closer in your faith this weekend and may you enjoy your family time together. Have no fear as Monday will bring back EVERYTHING you left on Friday; so take this time for……well……YOU!

Happy Holidays.

I am a diabetes dad.

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The Easter Basket……A Poem.

Posted on April 3, 2015 | by tomkarlya | 1 Comment

Oh the Easter Basket so sweet with candy and not whole grain Wheaties,
Can cause such havoc for those living life with diabetes.

It is not necessarily the actually candy that causes us to stump,
It’s the sneaking without telling; or consulting the pump.

The basket seems so pretty when it’s finished by one Easter Bunny,
How careful us parents must be, the bad guy; it’s truly not funny.

Our kids just want some chocolate, why must we be such total creeps,
If not the bunny ears, a jelly bean perhaps, or even some peeps.

But we know what happens when the candy goes in,
We know it shouldn’t be bad or treated as sin.

We did what we could, to supply gifts over candy,
But it’s the sweets in the baskets the kids will find dandy.

We do allow them to have some of the sweets and try to be fair,
But tread carefully we must, the pitfalls are there.

It’s just another reason to make us parents’ breath and to sigh,
To ward off the threats of the lows or a high.

We do not like to say no when everyone else gets a yes,
But we see the pitfalls of diabetes and know surely what’s best.

So parents take solace in doing well this holiday maze,
Rest easy till Halloween, it’s in 209 days.

Happy Easter.

I am a diabetes dad.

Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’

If You Know Someone Who Needs to Smile This Easter Season……Share This!!!!!

Posted on April 18, 2014 | by tomkarlya | Leave a Comment

Click the picture of a very short video.

Enjoy it and share this with people who need to smile during this Easter Season.

Happy Easter!!!!!!

I am a diabetes dad.

Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’

Easter Baskets…….OMG: WHAT DO I DO ABOUT EASTER BASKETS??? Relax…..Easy as a Bunny Hop!!!!!!

Posted on April 17, 2014 | by tomkarlya | Leave a Comment

The Easter Basket. If you feel a little tingle of nerves in your stomach because this is your first Easter Basket with diabetes………relax. Today’s article provides a few ideas and I am going to ask those with experience to jump in here as well and add what they do; so you have choices on what YOU CAN do on Easter morning.

In our house, after Kaitlyn was diagnosed with diabetes, we made a few adjustments. What you need to know here is that I am my father’s son when it comes to holidays. My dad, God bless his soul, would take holidays like Easter and Christmas and take them out of the stratosphere on the amount of ……well…….everything that his six kids would get. My mom and dad were the living examples of doing without, so their kids could; period.

Easter was no different. Our baskets looked like the candy department at Woolworth, (ask your parents they’ll tell you). Peeps, chocolate, malted eggs, jelly beans, marshmallow chocolate covered eggs and bunnies, and the biggest chocolate rabbit you have ever seen with a candy eye of blue for us boys and pink for the girls with a matching bow around their neck (which we ate around until it was the last piece when we would remove the bow and pop the last piece in our mouth. Every year.

Well our kids got the same treatment. Well on October 26th, 1992 that had to change in our house. And when Easter rolled around my panic was obvious. “I need to do this or there would be no tradition.” Ridiculous thought as that was, I had it.

Another reminder here is that this is pre-pump days and all the wonderful tools we now have for better management. So what to do? It was/is always important for us that our kids…….well stayed kids……and we knew that sugar would be needed at times, especially to deal with lows, so giving a basket would not be a bad thing. But we also knew that we probably should make some adjustments and we did.

Sugar free mints and gum came in handy. Little girl accessories from Claire’s were always appreciated, trading cards, videos, colorful painted eggs, make-up and lipstick as she got older. In short, much of the candy was replaced with small gifts—-think stocking stuffers on fake green grass in a basket with no stocking. Crayons, coloring books, stickers, books, a pair of cool socks or a shirt all made for great gifts.

And eventually the candy was outnumbered by the gifts that could fit into the basket. Wrapped in spring-styled wrapping paper. Kids love opening gifts and to be honest the few peeps and jelly beans we left in there were more than enough along with the gifts we gave.

Let us know what you do in your house?

And ever year, perhaps smaller than what it used to be, sits a chocolate rabbit which gets eaten, probably just a tad slower than before diabetes. But that is not such a bad thing. And with boluses and everything else we can now do; well Easter is Easter in our house just like every other house.

My kids are all older now with the youngest being 18, but they still like their Easter Baskets with a mix of candy, and small gifts, and a chocolate rabbit that gets the area around the bow eaten last. My dad would like that; Happy Easter everyone.

I am a diabetes dad.

Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’

An Injustice (well….in a fun kinda way). :)

Posted on March 30, 2013 | by tomkarlya | 2 Comments

I observed a huge injustice recently that I would like to bring to your attention. This, the Easter Holiday among those who believe, leaves me under the absolute belief that the chicken does all the work this holiday season and the bunny gets all the credit.

There are eggs everywhere; dyed, chocolate, marshmallow….the egg is the center of the Easter Universe when it comes to treats and yet it is the chocolate idolatry of a rabbit that sits and adorns the basket come Easter Morning. Why? It’s unfair.

The biggest marshmallow treats of the season is called PEEPS (which, every year, also makes me think of my good friends John and Nicole—GIANTS in this diabetes battle), a sound made by a baby chick. One report states that 700 million of these are sold at this time of the year. PEEPS……not some nose-itching name that only a bunny could provide; PEEPS; after a baby chicken.

SO I think the chicken lovers of the world (hellllllo Purdue Family) should stand up and let the world know……….Bunnies at Easter–overrated; it is the chicken that carries all the weight.

And for your information 5 PEEPS (as in a chicken peep and not a rabbit peep because rabbits don’t make a peep, although there are rabbit PEEPS which is a complete distortion of everything; but I’ll save that story for another time) total 36g of carbohydrates and 34g of sugar according to their packaging.

Now if you do not give a hop about all of this than enjoy the holiday for what it means. To us as Christians, it is the representation of the time when eternal death was beaten forever when Jesus rose from the dead. Anyone could have died but it was the rising from the dead the beat eternal death once and for all for all who believe.

Spring showing new life, just as that special Easter morning, is a time for renewal and growth for new things in life. Let us remember during this time that our drive for what is right in this diabetes world of ours far, AND I MEAN FAR, outweigh the differences.

Let’s remember that this spring.

And when we come out in unison for what we believe; the world hears a lot more than just a ‘PEEP’ out of our collective voices.

Happy Easter to you and yours.

I am a diabetes dad.

Please hop to my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’

Easter Bunny and Diabetes…..Please Share Your Ideas!!!!!!

Posted on March 28, 2013 | by tomkarlya | 16 Comments

For the last-minute buyers of baskets and goodies for Easter…..what do you give at Easter for both basket surprises and for dinner?

Let us know any tips, ideas, or possible even customs that have evolved because of diabetes? Many people could benefit….so hop to it and please share.

I am a diabetes dad.

Please hop to my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’