NEW JERSEY — A New Jersey family with Jewish and Italian-Catholic members is navigating overlapping Easter and Passover celebrations this year, blending traditions from both faiths across a shared holiday weekend. The family, which includes three children and three grandparents, planned to host a Passover seder at their home rather than travel to extended family gatherings.

The couple decided to raise their children in the husband's Jewish faith, though the mother, who attended Catholic school, values her Catholic holiday traditions as a link to her heritage. The decision to host came in part because of the children's school schedules. A family member said, "My Dad wants to host a Passover seder." She added, "We should host rather than drive to Long Island because the kids have school."

The family's late mother-in-law will be absent from this year's gathering. When the children were younger, the family traveled between New Jersey, Long Island, and Staten Island multiple times during the overlapping holiday period. Grandparents on both sides demanded that the children be fully immersed in their respective religious cultures and traditions.

The maternal grandmother gave the children goody-stuffed Easter baskets, while the paternal grandmother gave them Passover plague finger puppets and seder coloring books. When the children were young, the family used chocolate rabbits and googly-eyed stuffed frogs — representing the Easter bunny and one of the ten plagues commemorated at the Passover seder — to celebrate both holidays in the same week. Both Easter and Passover include traditions where children hunt for hidden items: Easter eggs and the afikomen, a piece of matzoh hidden during the seder.

This year, the family will roast an egg in the oven for the seder plate and will also color Easter eggs. The husband plans to abridge the Haggadah during the first night of the Passover seder to allow time for coloring Easter eggs. Several years ago, he decided it was impractical to maintain a grain-free diet for the entire week of Passover when it overlapped with Easter, given the Italian family's tradition of consuming carbohydrate-rich dishes such as meatballs during Easter weekend. Jewish tradition prohibits eating grain during Passover week.

The family adapted dietary observances on both sides. The mother said she would eat meat on Good Friday if it coincided with a Passover seder, despite the strict dietary rules she learned in Catholic school. On the night before the Passover seder, the family served a meal called Erev Passover Marinara, consisting of meatballs. The morning after the seder, the family planned to eat matzoh brei, a sugar-covered, breadless version of French toast.

The middle child's preparation to leave home for college added to this year's holiday planning, as the family adjusted to a household in transition.