Happy Easter to all Christians celebrating today and, to the children, I hope the Easter Bunny brought you plenty of goodies.
Who doesn’t love an Easter basket filled with chocolate bunnies, marshmallow peeps, jelly beans and malted balls?
It was commonplace in my childhood home to receive a solid chocolate bunny and, of course, the first things to go were the ears. Why not? It was the easiest place to start, and then I’d work my way down.
The rest of the solid rabbit was so hard; I would often just take the end of a butter knife and start smashing it to get it into pieces. If I had the original box the rabbit came in, I’d smash the box. In desperate times, you have to go to extreme measures.
I loved, and still do, marshmallow peeps. I thought everyone did until my friend Cathy Fusco told me otherwise. I mean, how can you not like marshmallows? Cathy doesn’t like them over the fire, in a S’more or coated in sugar like a peep. That’s downright un-American!
The Easter Bunny left our baskets covered in clear-colored cellophane of either blue, pink, clear or my daughter Tiffany’s favorite, purple. Each basket would have colored ribbon tying it all up at the top The straw would be of different colors, as well.
My two siblings and I would get the same basket from year-to-year so when we arose in the morning, we knew which one was ours.
We only received sweets for Easter but, nowadays, children get toys and clothes and other items like it was Christmas. Not sure when that all changed, but it did.
All three of us received the identical amounts of goodies so nobody would be jealous over the other. I would take my time eating the goods over several days with the peeps going down first. I was never one to enjoy a stale peep, but some people do. Not me — the fresher, the better.
After our sugar rush, it was time to get serious about the religious aspect of the holiday … church.
Mom and Dad always make sure we had new clothes for Easter and that meant clothes shopping, something I dreaded. It was never fun and Mom was particular about what we wore for each holiday.
Even though my brother and I are 4 1/2 years apart, Mom dressed us in identical clothing. I find that odd today but didn’t back then.
My baby sister was the belle of the ball and always got the nicest dress, shoes AND a hat. Mom made sure my sister always had a hat for Easter. Come to think of it, she had gloves to match that hat, too.
My pet peeve was the shoes end of the deal. I really disliked getting new shoes and I’d always, without fail, get blisters on the back of my heels. I can’t tell you how many times I had to put Band-Aides over those blisters.
The Catholic Easter Mass was always long. Paying attention and not squirming for the entire hour was difficult. I could never see the altar when people stood; all I could see were a bunch of backsides. I couldn’t see the altar when we sat or kneeled, either, so to pass the time, I’d count all the men’s balding heads in front of me. I still do that now,
After Mass, we headed to the cemetery to visit our deceased relatives. I was okay with that and it was nice to see all the flowers on the graves. One of our traditions was to have our photo taken next to the grave plot of our loved one. I’m not sure if it was customary back then or if it was an Italian thing.
Next up was the big meal, one of my favorite things about Easter. No matter what my mother made, it was incredibly good. She was a magician in the kitchen and could make anything out of nothing. For Easter, it was usually a ham.
Even with all the candy at our disposal, Mom still made a homemade desert. When I think about it now, boy, were we spoiled!
With each generation passing, traditions did too, sadly. If my children have children, Easter will never resemble anything about my experience. But who knows?
Tiffany, my eldest daughter, really likes keeping Christmas as traditional as possible, even wanting to learn how to make homemade ravioli.
Ashley, my youngest, is more contemporary and likes to mix up the menu. Either way, it’s a win-win situation.
I hope anyone reading this finds peace and solitude on this holiest of days.
Earth is alive
Tomorrow is Earth Day, which was first observed in 1970. It’s a pity to have a day to celebrate our precious earth when it should be honored year round.
It’s great to see our area beginning to see trees bloom and seemingly the grass became green overnight.
I love spring!
Quote of the week
“God is everywhere but He is most manifest in man. So serve man as God. That is as good as worshiping God.” – Ramakrishna, Indian Hindu mystic
Thought of the week
“To be kind to all, to like many and love a few, to be needed and wanted by those we love is certainly the nearest we can come to happiness.” Mary Stuart, Scottish queen
Bumper sticker
“The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.” – Walter Bagehot, British analyst
