A Simple Easter

  I can't say that Easter has snuck up on me. I have been fixing to decorate for it since the first week of April. But instead I have used the free time to cook, or to sew. Or plain 'ole live.

 I also had a slightly worrisome out-patient surgery looming and I couldn't think too far ahead. Well, the surgery is over and I am recovering well. (I promise I will let you know all about when I decide if it has taken care of my issues or not.) This weekend I was making a list of foods for my son, Seth's, birthday this week (a big deal!) and realized- I still haven't decorated for Easter!

If you have been visiting for a while you know how much I love to decorate for every possible occasion. See some previous Easter posts Here and Here. And Easter is a big one with me. It usually looks like I puked up chicks, rabbits, and lambs on every available surface...but in a good way, of course ;). I lugged out my tote and just looked at the contents. Then I looked around my dining room. I had big bouquets of flowers on every single surface where I would normally decorate. I took it all in and made a decision. I would go simple this year. 

I only put out a few touches of things that I really wanted to see, and I left the rest in the box. I had this feeling that this year my flowers were my symbols, not just of spring, but also of rebirth and joyous life. And isn't that the reason for Easter in the first place? I don't decorate to impress other people, I do it because I enjoy it and also hope that any visitors to my home will be uplifted. This year my approach is gentler and more low-key. And it fit my soul just fine.

 But never fear! Squeaky did not escape his usual humiliation...

Funnily enough I found an envelope of old pictures just last week, and some grainy Easter pictures were among them. The year was 1993; I had graduated High School and been living in my Aunt Jane's cabin for a year. Here is the tree I would make with spray-painted branches and decorate for each holiday. I started this tradition when I was about twelve.

And this is the Easter basket from my husband-to-be. It was my first present from him and I thought he did pretty well indeed.

We had been dating for a whole month at the time. I was 19 and he was 29, and the rest is ancient history.

Enough blasts from the past! I'm so excited for Easter and all the foods to prepare, and I am definitely planning an elaborate table. The room may simple, but the table setting will be lovely. I am saving blue eggshells from my chickens to serve as tiny vases, and I have watercolored a picture for name tags. I will have family all around the table and be so very, very grateful. Grateful for a Savior who loved us so much he would die for us. And even more that He lives, and gives us eternal hope on Easter and all days in between.