Easter Reflections

1977

Easter Sundays were always fun and exciting in our house growing up.  The Easter baskets, left by the big bunny, were grand in stature and filled to the brim with candy and trinkets.  The main treat that stands out in my mind is the malted eggs.  Man, I loved those things.  But of course, there were traidional treats such as jelly beans and chocolate bunnies.  Mom used to take the black jelly beans, and my grandmother inevitably would steal the ears of our chocolate bunnies.  I actually remember being quite upset about the ear stealing one year.

1979

 Weeks before Easter, there were also the visits with the Easter Bunny.  It’s nice that mom took the time to document these moments on film.  I’ve gotten some good laughs out of them, but what surprises me is that there are photos of me in fits of hysteria with Santa, and yet with the giant-sized bunny I seem to be all, “hey, what’s up fluffy bunny?”.  I don’t remember if the bunny talked or not, but there are some pretty horrific pictures of me with scary bunnies, including this one:

1981 - why am I not afraid?

 

As adults, the baskets still arrived, only it became the communal basket – which was fine because it was overstuffed.  Side story about the communal basket… one year it was filled with Hershey kisses.  After a big Easter dinner, the family left the house briefly- leaving everything on the table.  Upon returning, we realized that our dog, Ginger, had found her way onto the table.  She didn’t touch the ham or delicious sides that accompanied it – no, she went straight for the Easter basket.  She delicately unwrapped and consumed no less than 20 kisses.  We couldn’t believe it… and she didn’t get sick either.

It is with memories of Easters past that I found myself with dealing with mom’s loss today.  She taught me the value of making holidays special for the family – regardless of the circumstances and everyday annoyances that everyone has.  Years from now, you won’t remember that argument about who didn’t take out the trash or why you came home so late, but you are going to remember that Easter basket that was so lovingly left for you each and every Easter Sunday.

Thank you, mom… and Happy Easter, everyone!  Now, time to eat some chocolate bunny ears.