I love Easter weekend even though every year I become less prepared for it. It is the herald of the start of that time of year that I love best - spring and summer.
And we still do Easter baskets. My kids - at 18 and 21 - still love them. Frankly, I do too. Even though every year my husband gets me Mound bars (which, don't get me wrong - I do like) instead of pecan eggs and those little chocolate and coconut birds nest with the jelly bean eggs. I told him outright this year - no candy bars. We'll see what that gets me.
So I requested the Easter baskets to be pulled out of the shed. This is always the first part of any holiday adventure in this house because whatever it is, my husband really would prefer we skip the baskets, the decorations, or anything of the sort. Poor man. He is always out in the shed swearing he has no idea where the stuff is or insisting what we want is buried in the back of the shed and too hard to get to under any circumstances. We ignore him. Eventually, the Easter baskets, Christmas decorations, ect. come out of the shed.
Holiday on.
When the kids were younger there were egg hunts too. Stuffed bunnies and Pez dispensers in the shape of rabbits and such would surely make an appearance as well. Plastic eggs filled with jelly beans were scattered around the house. It was more of a production. I can't say that I am unhappy that we have boiled all of this down to Easter baskets and a nice dinner.
This year, I had to reconsider the traditional Easter basket content. Gone are the days of chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs spilling from each basket. Everyone is watching their diet, or at least thinking about it (that would be me). Since an outpouring of chocolate and sugar was not an option, I tweaked the Easter basket so now there is a gift for each person that is not food-based and everyone gets a little sugar/chocolate but not enough to create devastating guilt or annoying sugar highs. It is all still nested in that wonderful fake grass. Some things never change.
I thought about going to church this morning but it just didn't happen. After I made the decision to blow off Easter Mass, I knocked over a heavy paper shredder on my feet causing serious pain but luckily no broken bones. I guess I shouldn't have skipped Mass after all. Sorry about being a slacker, God. Point taken.
I went to the Honey Baked Ham store yesterday and stood in a crazy long line in the pursuit of the perfect Easter dinner. There is a giddy frenzy about honey-baked ham at Easter and purchasing a honey-baked ham on Easter weekend is not for the faint of heart. I came away with a huge ham (these hams are the best of any I have every had in my life), potatoes au gratin, sweet potato souffle, and a carrot cake. When you round that off with bake in the oven biscuits, dinner is served.
I am sipping on a Caribou orange mocha but I am longing for an early Easter dinner.
Happy Easter!
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