Tardiness and Tone

OK, the tardiness one: I will respond to Karin and Mairi's comments tomorrow. Have little time on the internet today.

The tardiness two: just realized that I've missed posting poems (the bonus posts) twice now. Have been revising instead of writing new stuff for two days. Will try to resume that on Monday as well.

The tone: A question about Good Friday (which I'm tardy in noting): What's the appropriate tone to take for stories of Good Friday? Easter and Christmas are easy - celebratory. But Good Friday is a tough one. It's sad - somebody dies. But we all know that the death isn't going to last. It's not even the movie where you're pretty sure the hero's not actually dead. It's the movie where you got to read the spoilers that said the hero's not actually dead. Or at least coming back. I'm not trying to be flippant with the Christian faith here. I recently made a comment on Facebook to the effect that I'm often heretical but rarely blasphemous. My question is a serious one for writers, even if phrased a bit awkwardly due to limited time available to me at the moment. I wonder if GF should be more like Thanksgiving. Or at least, instead of being a sad day, one of quiet appreciation. Of course, then we'd have to write quiet appreciation instead of sadness, and the latter's far less subtle.

Other holidays, holy days, secular days, or times in general that are difficult to pin down an appropriate tone?