Easter and Mormon Logic

I was a decent son the other day.  I visited my parents for Easter.

Easter's never been a big thing in my family.  And I've noticed that it's never seemed to be as big a deal in Mormondom as it was for a lot of other people.

My mom made a similar comment toward the end of the evening when she kind of half-apologized to my girlfriend for a normal dinner instead of something special.  We've never really had a fancy dinner for Easter, and this year was no exception.  My mom explained that Mormons "remember the atonement and the resurrection all year round, so we don't really need a holiday to commemorate it."  That seemed like an arrogant and insensitive thing to say to my non-denominational Christian girlfriend.  It was kind of a not-so-subtle my religion is better than your religion thing--although I'm pretty sure my mom didn't mean for it to be taken that way.

I don't think I've ever wanted to slap my mother.  Until then.  What I wanted to say was "So you guys are too dumb to remember the birth of Christ?  The miracle that began the perfect life of the Son of God and enabled the atonement and resurrection?  You don't need a holiday to remember his death, but you need a reminder to celebrate his birth?"

Obviously I didn't say that.  But I was appalled that my mom would say something so pompous and so logically flawed.  Then I thought about it and realized that she's been saying stuff like that as long as I can remember.  For example, she's explained that some people feel the need to give to charity but she doesn't because she donates tithing and fast offerings to the church.  Of course, she has no real guarantee that the money "donates" actually goes toward charitable enterprises.  And if she's really committed to helping those less fortunate than she, donating to the church doesn't exclude the possibility of donating to other worthy causes.

I used to believe those kinds of things.  I used to say those kinds of things.  It's embarrassing to face that reality.