Flashback Friday - Easter Edition

Time to dust off the history files again. Mocha with Linda wants us to reach back into the file cabinet and pull out our very best Easter memories.

What was Easter like when you were little? For example, did you receive a basket with toys and candy? Was the Easter Bunny part of your family's celebration? Did your family integrate both secular and spiritual aspects of the day? Did you dye Easter eggs. . . .and did your family eat them afterwards? Did you usually get a new outfit? (Post a picture if you have one!) Does any Easter stand out particularly? You might also share how your Easter today is similar or different to your childhood?

I LOVED Easter when I was little. It meant getting a new outfit, complete with new tights, shoes, a hat, jacket or coat, and purse in addition to the dress. We also got new underwear. When I was really little, those panties had rows and rows of ruffles across them which made sitting down rather uncomfortable but who cared? I was thrilled to be so stylin' in ruffles that stretched from my neck to my bum.

[Sadly, or not so sadly, I have no pictures of me in ruffles to share since we didn't bring any old photos with us when we moved overseas.]

The older I got, the less I liked ruffles. And the pink? Ewwwww, please no! By age ten I was lobbying for straight lines, no ruffles or adornment of any kind, simple colors. Granny Smith green. White. A touch of yellow or blue. I also wanted to wear real, honest-to-goodness nylons. Oh if I only knew what torture lay ahead in the years and years of my poor legs being encased in synthetic tubular casings, I don't think I'd have been in such a hurry!

Clothing aside, Easter meant:
~big baskets of goodies, and one year a really large stuffed animal
~always a family get-together and fighting with the cousins over the contents of our Easter baskets
~receiving very nice gifts from the elderly neighbors. One year it was ceramic banks. I think mine was a rabbit and my sister's was a lamb
~decorating hard boiled eggs and then hunting for them in the yard after our parents hid them. (Sometimes too well and it would be weeks later that the smell led us to their hiding place.)

Ours was a pretty secular Easter. I don't remember going to church until I was much older and seeking after God.

I've experienced a few stand-out Easters, both since becoming a a believer in Jesus and understanding that Easter is a time to celebrate His death and resurrection.

One occurred when we lived in Ft. Lauderdale and our church had a sunrise service on the beach. It was totally worth getting up while it was still dark so we could assemble on the beach and begin singing beautiful hymns as the sun rose. "Up from the grave He arose!" is particularly poignant in that setting.

After we'd moved to Michigan most of our sunrise services were indoors. It's COLD there in March and April! But one year at Countryside Bible Church we had a sunrise service in the graveyard. It wasn't just the cold that gave me goosebumps when almost 100 voices rang out "He lives! He lives!"

Once we were married Ivan was adamant about not allowing even the tiniest focus to shift away from Jesus on this special day so we didn't have any of the secular trappings with our kids.

But back when our daughter was young and I was attempting to prove my home economics teacher wrong, I kept trying to sew cute little dresses for my daughter and several became "Easter" dresses. But since, in the end, my home ec teacher was completely correct in her assessment of my sewing inabilities, we won't talk about how the first one had a major problem with the collar...okay, it wasn't just the collar, it was the entire structure of the dress that was a problem and whenever Tina tried to sit down, it would choke her unless she hiked up the back of the dress over her hiney first. The second dress looked great from the front and I was just glad she had long hair by then so it could cover the fact that we kept it fastened with safety pins in back. I have deep-seated issues with button holes. The last "Easter" dress actually turned out pretty well if you didn't count that it was tight in the sleeves and a little long waisted for her body shape.

Boy, Linda, these Flashback Fridays bring back a FLOOD of memories! Some of them not so pleasant ;-) But now y'all know why I quilt -- straight lines are my sewing speed. I'm not even very good at hemming pants and unless you want to see a grown woman cry, DON'T EVER ASK ME TO DO ANYTHING WITH A BUTTON HOLE.

The End.

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Okay, not really the end. Just wanted to say Thank You to those who prayed for my poor knees after I fell really hard the other day. I iced them right away, and kept icing periodically throughout the day. God answered your prayers and the swelling was almost non-existent and I only have a bruise on one knee (the one I hit hardest). I'm AMAZED that while, yes, it hurts and aches, it doesn't KILL like I was afraid it would; the pain is completely manageable. ¡Gracias a Dios!