This morning I am thinking of Easter pasts. Easter was both religious and secular for me growing up. As a kid we were church goers, but it would be 20 years before I accepted Jesus truly into my heart, but the calling was over those years. He is risen!
Our hometown church was small and my folks for a time were involved with helping either with the lawn work or I remember one Easter where mom created the most lovely Easter stain glass windows pieced together meticulously with cellophane and black tape. I cannot even imagine the work she put into those windows. If I recall correctly, they had Easter Lilies as themes. They were so beautiful. Back in those days, we would dress up in a dressy Sunday best and I remember wearing a hat or head piece, which in the Protestant churches is not a norm. It was a big deal and I loved my Easter dresses and those special days. In later childhood years, I would join the adult choir because I loved music so much and the music would seep into my soul. We would sing special programs for Christmas and Easter and those songs would come to me over the years as I was an adult.
"Early in the morning, at the rising of the sun, at the rising of the sun they came unto the sepulcher." That is part of one Easter song. The rest of it had to do with seeing that the stone was rolled away and Jesus Christ had risen.
What I remember the most as a kid was what my mom used to do to make the Easter Bunny stuff fun and I am thinking of mom today. I am lucky I can call my mom still as both of my folks are alive. Mom won't remember any of these things and I will remind her, but I am thankful for the magic she gave me.
As kids we colored real eggs and they would magically be hidden by the Easter bunny. My bed was under a window facing the backyard and I could look out in the morning to see if I could spy an egg. It took effort for the "Easter Bunny" to hide the eggs before we woke up. Magically, at the foot of my bed, would appear a lovely basket. We had our own baskets that were reused over the years and mom would do such a special job decorating them. Each would have a chocolate bunny, peanut butter eggs, M&Ms, chocolate eggs, jelly beans, malt ball eggs, and such. Then she would wrap the basket in pretty cellophane and tie with a bow to make it look extra special. We would hunt eggs first thing as the FL heat and humidity was not the best for real eggs. I remember one year when my folks must of hidden the eggs the night before and a local racoon found many of them and ate them. So much for growing up in Florida.
This year, I sent a kit to my grands in CA to make these spun eggs where you put the egg in a spinner thing and it stripes the eggs and they had a lot of fun decorating, much in the same way I did as a child and the way I had fun with my children. Daughter in law Janelle send me some photos and it sparked these memories.
Tonight, we gather together for dinner with my two kids who are here locally and their families. I have a basket for the youngest and a treat for each of the older ones who are too big for an egg hunt but not too big to help me do one. I hope the little one, Myra enjoys it. We have a brisket smoking and a bone in pork roast to roast a bit later. I baked dozens of Linzer cookies I will assemble later today. These are our contributions for our "potluck" dinner. I love these gatherings. I love seeing the kids together. I recall when the day after Easter was a holiday, but I do not remember when that stopped. In Europe, that is still a thing my Polish coworkers told me last week.
I want to wish my friends and family across the world a very happy and healthy Easter. God bless.