A Double Easter

Easter was unusual for us this year. Last week we had a wonderful celebration with the wedding crew on Easter Sunday (A1 and A2 hosted a marvelous Martha brunch and had a little Easter egg hunt for the little kids.) The weather was bright and sunny and warm down in Paradise.

But, since we were out of town last week, this year we celebrated Easter again with my side of the family. Easter is an important holiday for us. Not because of the obvious, which is of course because of celebrating our Risen Saviour, but also because, well, because....

This side of the family has rules of engagement for Easter

Rule #1. Easter celebration is always, always at the Gardening Aunt's house. This is because her house has the prettiest yard, the only yard free of dog doo-doo, and usually she is the first to have her yard in tip-top shape each spring. One of my sisters said it will be 200 years before Easter is this early again, but, despite the earliness of the holiday her yard was, as always, a delight.

Rule #2. All the siblings (there are 5 of us)bring candy for the hunt. As the kids have gotten older we've been known to throw in some money with the candy. We all sit in the spare room filling the eggs together. Gives us a chance to conspire in secret if needed.

Rule #3. ALL children of the next generation (our children) must participate in the hunt until such time as they have children of their own who can take their place in the hunt. Doesn't matter how old they are or whether or not they are married. This year we had one married couple, an engaged couple, and children from the age of 6 to 24 participating in the hunt.

Rule #4 Children exit the house in reverse age order. Youngest first.

Seth and Sophie are the two youngest.

Then comes Sam

Rule #4. We take all the kids' pictures with them standing in chronological order, then we take a picture of them standing in order of height. That has been fun over the years to watch as positions change in the line-up. This year we were missing 2. One was on Spring Break in Florida (the tallest - a 6 foot 4 inch 280 pound offensive lineman), and one was in a studying frenzy (I hear Pharmacy is a hard major). She is the tallest girl in the group, although one of the younger ones of the bunch. It wasn't the same this year without them. We joked about photo shopping them in, but it just wouldn't be the same.

Rule #5 Must look at all of the gardening aunt's "stuff" to see what's new. I don't want to say I "covet" her belongings. I think that is going too far. I don't like that word. Let's just say that she has a lot of neat stuff that if she ever decided to get rid of, I would be happy to help her out.

She kind of has a theme about her home. If you read her blog, MayDreamsGarden, then you have already guessed the theme.

I really, really like this doorbell. If I remember correctly she had this doorbell before the house was built and had the door frame built to accommodate it. If I had this doorbell, I'd do the exact same thing. It's pretty cool, don't you think?

This quilt is something that I admire and if she tires of it, she knows where she can send it. It's her garden. Really, seriously. The fabrics are vegetables. Our mother made that for her. Guess we know who she loves best......


I also admire these books. The only reason is that I remember the middle two as ones that sat on our bookcase the whole time I was growing up. But, I really don't want these books. I know they are right where they belong... in a place where they are deeply loved, never neglected, and maybe even used upon occasion.

Yes it was a wonderful Easter for the Zoo Family both in Paradise and at the home of MayDreamsGarden.

This blog post has been viewed and approved by Carol at MayDreamsGarden prior to publication.