Happy Easter (Next Week)!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with my extremely organized-to-the-point-of-verging-on-neurotic ways, I like to get things done ahead of time. Therefore, I am publishing my Easter post one week early. I saw a few mentions about Easter on Facebook, so I figured it was fair game.

I also realized, in looking through my past posts, that I have never blogged on Easter, meaning I don't have to rack my brain for a unique angle. I thought I'd go with the "My Favorite Easter Memories" theme. So, here are "My Favorite Easter Memories":

1. Waving palm branches on "Pom-pom Sunday"
This is technically a pre-Easter memory. But, when I was a kid, Palm Sunday was just as big of a deal as Easter. When else were children given free reign to journey through the church aisles, sometimes following a live animal like a donkey (or a goat if a donkey wasn't available), waving around large props? By the way, I used to call Palm Sunday, "Pom-pom Sunday." How cute is that?

2. Easter sunrise services
I loved attending sunrise services even though, any other Sunday morning, getting me out of bed was as much fun as having ten cavities filled without Novocaine. The first year my parents finally gave in and allowed me to go to a sunrise service (probably thinking I wouldn't wake up anyway, and that would be that), I jumped out of bed shouting, "He is risen! He is risen!" just to prove my point.

When we moved to Idaho, the sunrise services in our town were held on the canyon. Then, I was really glad I got out of bed that first Easter so many years ago.

3. Pantyhose and white pumps
When I was eight years old, I was allowed to wear pantyhose and a pair of white pumps for the first time on Easter Sunday. (My mother made an exception to her no-white-shoes-before-Memorial-Day rule only on Easter.) I also wore a pretty yellow dress with a white-striped skirt, and my mom and dad gave me a Precious Moments Bible which I still have to this day.

4. Easter egg hunts
My parents would take two cars to church. My mother would rush home to "meet" the Easter Bunny, and I (and eight years later, my brother) would come home and hunt Easter eggs. This elusive Easter Bunny would also hide small trinkets inside our house. I suppose it never occurs to kids that all of their favorite gift-receiving holidays consist of strange hybrid, mythical type creatures breaking into their homes and leaving toys behind, kind of like strangers handing out candy to children on the streets only magnified by ten. (Stranger Danger, anyone?) 

5. Family pictures 
Following the Easter egg hunts, we took a family photo. It was the only time my brother would wear something other than polyester basketball shorts and a T-shirt. And sometimes, my grandmother was visiting from Illinois. We would take several photos because that is how long it took to figure out the camera's self-timer, and my brother and I would groan and whine about wanting to eat our candy.

But today, I sure am glad we took those photographs.

 

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