Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Easter Through the Years

Here comes Peter Cottontail, bringing with him tons of memories!
 
Lots of those memories center around growing up in church choir. All 250 of us, from wee ones to seniors, would like up and march in to Plymouth Congregational Church to the sound of trumpets. 
Our choirmaster, Dr. Klausli (and his wife Dorothy, who were trained in the English tradition) kept us on task and woe be to the child who acted out!
 
Between the two services, choir parents (including mine) would serve us a grand breakfast. I wish I had photos of that!
But I do have photos of memories. Oh! Those baskets!
David and I just loved them!
In high school, I had my own Easter bunny (a gift from my friend Mary, much to the chagrin of my mother!)
 
And lest you should think I come upon my decorating crazies independently, think again! Mom had the egg tree market cornered years ago! (I still have some of her eggs; they are among my favorites!)
Easter can be a time of gathering people together who have no place else to go. My family always invited some of my college friends who weren't headed home during the holiday. It was a tradition that remained. One of the most poignant memories is when Rick's next door neighbor, Lucinda, joined us. About a month later she died suddenly, following surgical complications.
 
This is the first Easter without our Gypsy boy. I'd like to think he's found his next life already.
Egg dying is a must! 
This is a Good Friday tradition with our friends Mark and Jan. 
It's usually followed by a screening of "Life of Brian," but sometimes we're just too tired to hang in there! 
Jan and I often go to the market on that Saturday. It's always a glorious mass of color.
I can never decide what to buy. A couple of years ago, we fell totally in love with rununculus.I think between the two of us, we bought a dozen plants!
Yes, buy I do, and the centerpiece is the result. I think the simple parrot tulips were a favorite.
Of course, the Easter (and spring) china comes out.
And so do the bunnies. You didn't think I was doing Easter without the bunnies, did you?
 
Or chicks!
 
I love watching my next door neighbor's Easter egg hunt. The little kids get bigger every year!
So does our gang!
It's nice to sometimes have Molly at the table, whether it is brunch or dinner!
My neighbor always brings over traditional Italian Easter pastries. They have become another part of my tradition.
 
And, there are the traditional foods -- definitely deviled eggs.
 
Ina Garten's Frozen Key Lime Pie is a hit, too!
And eggs. Of course -- they are centerpieces, deviled, chopped up in salads... you name it!
Ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus. We're pretty traditional.
 
Whether you celebrate Easter, Passover or Equinox, I hope you have traditions that have followed you through the years that you are enjoying as we inch toward spring. 
Wishing you happiness!

18 comments:

Joanne Huffman said...

I love the way you do holidays. And, by the way, Life of Brian is one of my favorite movies.

Annie Jeffries said...

Easter was always exciting. There was a new dress, a new hat, socks with new shoes. The basket was made by hand. The egg dying was generally with mom. Dad was often gone overseas. There was always Mass and a great dinner afterwards.

As the kids grew up, I continued the new clothes tradition and making baskets. I still have some of the baskets in the garage.

Now it's Cadbury Creams for Krista and Peeps of all sorts for Don. No new clothes. There is enough to mix and match and it will feel new.

Dinner will have six people at our table this year. Dave and Yoli and Adrian will join Kris, Don, and I.

I always like Easter and this year I'm thinking of doing something a little different. I'm thinking of getting a Paska bread cake. See my current post about that.

Wishing you and Rick and all your loved one a blessed Easter, Jeanie.

skiourophile said...

It's lovely to have holiday traditions like that - and I think the ranunculus is such a wonderful, colourful flower to welcome in Spring.

Tracy said...

SWEET...so sweet... Gosh, this post has me all homesick and wanting to fly Stateside NOW! Have to wait until May though.. Thank you for sharing so many good memories with us, Jeanie. :o) The long Easter weekend begins today here... I'll be offline a few days. Wishing you & yours blessed weekend. ((HUGS))

Luna und Luzie said...

Hello Jeanie,

I love your colorful easter post so much. How cute are you childhood photos. And nice to see all the photos of your familytradition.
How nice that the neighbours share their traditional pastries with you.
Cute to see gypsy again at his first easter (that photo makes me smile)
We hope here that the kids must not do their easteregghunt in snow this year.

Have a great time
Hugs
Stefanie


Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

I always love seeing pictures of the eggs you guys dye as they are always so pretty! That is a cool tradition to decorate them with friends! I like helping the kids decorate. You definitely have some 'interesting' eggs as they like to experiment with combinations of colors which results in some brown, weird looking eggs. ;)

Our Easter meal is traditional as well. It always includes ham! I am not sure what else as I have been a bit out of the loop this year and did not offer to bring anything as i feel a bit over-extended as is...

Happy Easter, dear friend!

shoreacres said...

I found a photo of me holding my big stuffed Easter bunny the other day - I must have been about six or seven. My folks always hid a "big" surprise somewhere - I found Bunny in the oven!

When you give your class in Easter egg dying, I'll be first in line. Those eggs are beautiful, and I haven't the first clue how to produce something like that. ;)

~*~Patty S said...

fun walk down memory lane with you from Easter's past Jeanie

Such pretty and vibrant eggs...

We had an Easter Egg tree for all the years the boys were growing up...I miss them

Easter Blessings to you and yours
oxo

Jeanie said...

Your photos are wonderful, Jeanie, and I love that you have carried on some of your mother's traditions in such a beautiful way.
We had a few live Easter bunnies when my kids were growing up and most of them were with us for several years.
This will be a strange Easter for me as I will be traveling instead of celebrating with my family, but I will be with them in spirit as they get together to carry on some old traditions and maybe start some new ones of their own.

Marilyn Miller said...

Love, love, love the way you celebrate Easter. I think next to Christmas, this is my favorite time to celebrate. It has less expectations, so we can just play. And play you do indeed. Love it! We will have two boy babies and two little girls this year for our Easter egg hunt. I can't wait until the boy babies are big enough next year to also run in the yard. Sometimes I wish for the traditional Easter meal, but ours will be a gluten-free tea party. Happy Easter, dear friend!

The Old Parsonage said...

Oh boy did I ever love seeing the old photos - so sweet! A real bunny??!!! We had one but it lived outside in a hutch:)

Wishing you Happy new memories with family and friends made this year!

xo
Leann

Anonymous said...

Those eggs are so pretty and the Easter pastries look delicious. Love the photo of you and your bunny. I will have to look for one of my Easter photos. Have a wonderful holiday, Jeanie.

Jennifer Richardson said...

how absolutely hungry i am now!!!
your beautiful photos
send my mouth to watering
and all that Eastery goodness
stirs me to craving jelly beans
(the spicy ones...but not green or orange or white)
oh how I love this time of year
and your post tickled me happier:)
joy to you in the Springing,
Jennifer

Friko said...

Easter has lovely traditions all of it’s own. My egg tree comes out year after year too. As do the chocolate eggs, except they are always new because I eat the current lot!

Happy Easter!

Dr. Kathy McCoy said...

Happy Easter, Jeanie! I love your holiday spirit and beautiful pictures that evoke so much beauty and fun and inclusion and memorable holiday meals! I also loved the beautiful picture of the inimitable Gypsy -- who will never be forgotten! (We're bracing ourselves for the decline of our beloved Gus, who looks so much like Gypsy, and who, at nearly 15, is starting to get ill) I hope Gypsy is either onto his next life or happily playing around the Rainbow Bridge.

teresa said...

It's so hard to lose a beloved pet. We too just lost our English Setter of 15 years. I am so sad with out him but him memories keep him with us. I enjoyed your post. Happy Easter.

Maggie said...

Really enjoyed learning about your Easter traditions and meeting your bunnies! Love the parrot tulip, my fave, too.

Janet said...

As a kid Easter was a lot different than it is today. I always had a new outfit...dress, spring coat, shoes, hat, purse, gloves...everything. And the traditional dinner of ham and scalloped potatoes. Now HB does ham for himself since I don't eat meat anymore. But we still have deviled eggs! Happy Easter, Jeanie!!

Popular Posts