Easter Traditions | Peggy's Little Corner

October 19, 2014

Ever since I was a little girl, Easter has been my favorite holiday. Don’t misunderstand me, what child or adult doesn’t like to see the jolly old elf in the red suit come ho ho hoing through the door on Christmas eve, but for me, I get as giddy as a little kid on Easter. It’s in spring, the season of life and rebirth, and all around the flora and fauna are coming to life. However, other than it being the season of hope, there is just something special about all the pastel colored eggs, decorations, The Easter bunny, baby chicks, and let’s not forget the adorable lambs.

I have to say Easter candy is my favorite: Jelly Beans, Peeps (although I’m a purest I only buy yellow peeps), and Hershey’s solid chocolate eggs wrapped in pastel foil. One of the most vivid childhood memories of Easter was the year the Easter Bunny brought me a panoramic egg. I can remember how beautiful it was with the green grass, little white picket fence, a bunny, baby chick, and lamb nestled in the grass made from icing. But the thing that stood out to me the most were the candy tulips. Oh how I love spring flowers! I love all flowers, mind you, but spring flowers are happy thoughts everywhere in my gardens: Tulips, daffodils, crocus, muscari, and hyacinths. When I was a child I wanted to shrink myself so I could live in that beautiful Easter world, so as an adult I try to recreate it on a large scale in my own garden, and who doesn’t love a festive Easter bonnet? My own little lovely hat as a child was a white woven bergere styled straw hat with a ring of flowers around the crown. This paired with my new Easter dress, white gloves, white lace anklets, and patton leather shoes made me feel like a princess in a story book.

Not much has changed in my adult years, I dressed my own children in pastel Easter clothes when they were young, and I myself still dress in something pastel. Although my own Easter experience as a child came to an end far too early in my opinion, due to the fact my older siblings thought themselves too adult for Easter nonsense, even though they were only pre-teens, and I was still very young, nonetheless, my mother was done with Easter. For me, I don’t care if I reach 100 years old and my kids are in their 80’s I will still create them an Easter basket and hide colored eggs. Even all the pups get an basket with treats and a toy. I must admit, as adults, it’s easier not to hide from my kids why I have psychedelic fingers, or take bits out of a big raw carrot and leave it inside the gate. I still wrap their homemade reed baskets in colored cellophane, my daughter’s basket with the pink strip is 35 years old, and my son’s with the blue strip is 31 years old, both woven by my husband, and the pups have a plain natural colored basket. The Saturday morning before Easter is a bustling time, with all the food preparation, coloring eggs, packing baskets, and one of my favorite adult Easter traditions, going to Easter vigil Mass. I love to hear the Litany of the Saints chanted at this very beautiful celebration. Easter morning we still have an early morning egg hunt, with the help of the pups sniffing out the hiding places, and eating a few brightly colored boiled eggs, and my kids in turn hide eggs for me and their dad, so the parents can relive our childhood for one day. Although, that being said I don’t think I would have liked hunting eggs with my husband as a child, he’s too competitive, and gets quite vicious.

With all the eggs found off to the kitchen we go to make deviled eggs using my mother-in-law’s recipe. Those along with her homemade ham salad (I now make a tofu version), mashed potatoes, my mother’s recipe for homemade chicken noodles (also now made vegetarian style), colored greens, buttermilk biscuits, and my great grandmother’s recipe for lazy day cake, we turn out a grand feast. Promptly eaten at noon, we finish for a rousing game of croquet, and before the day is through we wind down for a traditional viewing of the Rankin and Bass cartoon “Here comes Peter Cottontail,” followed by Judy Garland and Fred Astair’s “Easter Parade”.

So, even though my Easter celebration is altered from my childhood, I now have my own traditions, and I look forward to it every year, just like a giddy child.