Merry Easter, Hoppy Holidays!

Erm.....Yeah, Christmas has it's magic, but nothing compares to Easter.

I am sitting in my living room, with all the windows open on a beautiful day, watching my Detroit Tigers on TV. It's bliss to have a nice breeze, a baseball game, some chocolate, some strawberries, and no obligations for the rest of the day.

I even made a tiny Easter basket and filled it with peanut M&Ms, strawberries, and Reese's cups, and hid it for my husband this morning. It's not quite like the traditions I remember loving about Easter, but it was fun.

When I was younger, Easter was an entire day of sweetness. In the morning, my mom would wake me up with a card from the Easter bunny. I would be all bleary-eyed, messy haired excitement. Inside, a rhyming clue would lead me towards my Easter basket. Things like,

Good morning! It's true

I've hidden things for you

But before you seek,

Better brush those teeth!

Okay, so that doesn't really rhyme, but trying to re-create my mom's genius is difficult. :) I would follow the Easter bunny's clue to the bathroom, where next to my tooth brush might be a lolly pop with a clue tied to it.

Once, after many many clues, I had to do a complicated math problem. It was more of a math riddle, because once I came up with the solution, I had to figure out where those numbers led me! I came up with 4545244. It took me a moment of staring at them before I remembered that this was the code to get into my mom's car with the keyless entry! I dashed out to the car, punched in the numbers, and voila! The trunk popped open and there was my basket, overflowing with goodies.

Then, after I'd solved the mysteries at home, we'd get dressed up and head to my grandma's. I always brough colored hard-boiled eggs in little hand-made paper baskets for my grandmas. We'd save some for ourselves too, and the next week, we'd eat them with a little salt. Sometimes the whites of the eggs would have little cracks of color.

At Grandma's, the first order of business for everyone was Easter Dinner.  If it was nice enough out, we'd grill. Honey ham, barbecue chicken, potato salad, these little things my aunt makes called polish roses. They are pickles and cream cheese wrapped in thinly sliced chip beef. My mouth is watering just thinking about it all. Around the house, there would be bowls of jelly beans, pastel M&Ms, and Brach's caramels. It would be a feast.

After dinner, my cousins and I would run around playing, tripping over aunts and uncles. The dogwood tree out front would be hung with plastic eggs and ready to drop its pink petals. We would hide in its branches and shake them down on unsuspecting passers-by. Through the window in an upstairs closet, we could reach the roof. We'd lay on the warm roof tiles of the porch and relish the newly mild weather. 

Then, my grandma would take us to the park for an hour or so. When we returned...Surprise! The Easter bunny had been, and had hidden eggs for us all. We picked an egg out of a bucket, and the color (or color combination) you got was the one you looked for. The plastic eggs were filled with even more candy. After we found all the eggs, we would each be presented with a chocolate bunny from World's Finest (bought from a school fundraiser.)

Traditionally, a movie popped up in my Easter basket. That night, we'd go home and watch my new movie (I remember getting Beauty and the Beast and 101 Dalmations.)