If you are sitting back, thinking "hey, I can't wait to relax this weekend"! I would like you remind you of what is on the line (joyous childhood memories) and expected of you in the form of a to-do list. (My favorite!)((Next to parenthesis!))
To do before Easter:
Plan coordinating outfits for the entire family. I am not saying you have to dress like your children, but it is visually pleasing to see the entire family sticking to the same color scheme or at least look like they are all attending the same event and the colors work together.
Also, you will need two sets of of clothing for the family: 'Easter Dressy', as the children clothing sites call it, and Spring Casual. The Spring Casual is for any egg hunts on Saturday, neighborhood festivities, or just kickin' it. Easter Dressy if for religious services or just looking like you are Religious, or a nice dinner . Yes, I realize that if you are of the LDS faith that this is conference weekend, and as an overly practical friend of mine asked "what, are you going to dress up for the t.v.?" A holiday is a holiday. And it's not like there isn't regular church next week to dress up for. You will need these outfits.
I do not want to complicate things, but it if you are the mother of girls, it would be a nice touch to home make dresses for them yourself. (see below photo)
Age 12ish. My heart swelled with pride over the teal pumps.Make Plans for Easter Dinner. Let us say that you are hosting. You will need to plan and shop for your menu. I eat the same thing every Easter: ham, potatoes, cheese sauce, asparagus, rolls, a fruity side dish-the wild card, and Coconut Lime Cake. Do not think that just because you loaded your family up on candy in the morning you are off the hook for a dessert at dinner. Make whatever dessert you want to, but it needs to be light, springy, and stand out in a crowd, like a graceful, ethereal woman.
Plan Easter Table and Decorations. I sincerely hope you have already thought about this. I eluded to this in my napkins post, but I use vintage hand-stitched linens at Easter. Somehow I can't enjoy my ham with out them. Of course linens with a history would be nice, but in a pinch anything spring colored and delicate will work. A centerpiece of fresh flowers is a must. Again, think soft colors. This is not the time to go crazy and try a vibrant rainbow of colors! Do you want joyous memories or not?
Flowers or artfully arranged tree branches around the house are also a good idea.
Ready electronics. Make sure all cameras and video cameras are charged, have a fresh battery, and have room to record. If it's not caught on camera, it's like it didn't even happen!
All this should be done while keeping a clean house and a cheerful demeanor.
Something spiritual. Lastly, find time to include the reason we celebrate Easter and share that with your family. I think I will share this lesson designed for 3 year-olds with my family. And yes, prepared visual aids would be nice..
Now if you will excuse me, I have work to do.
Have I missed anything? Sure, a sunrise service of some sort would be nice, but it is just too early for me.
I forgot something important!! You need to take a Spring Family Photo! You are already dressed up and it is beautiful outside, so no problem, right? I can never seem to get a great outdoor spring photo. Either it is pouring rain or the blossoms came too early in the year or someone is crying.
Why am I really showing you this Easter photo from 2 years ago? My hair. My fabulous, not black (Chelsea!) hair.
Don't act like you're not getting sick of pictures of me. But don't I look a little like Davy with a bonnet on?
15 comments:
Hahaha, I had an 80's Easter dress just like that (with matching perm)! I will never get tired of laughing at your old pics. NEVER.
'Do you want joyous memories or not?', that was my favorite part.
and i also love the old photos.
Ok, I have most of the things done on your easter checklist - glad to know I'm at least somewhat living up to the AG standard! And I even broke out the 'dressy' matching outfits for church a week early. I'm not hosting any dinner though, so no plans for table decor or food.
I remember easter baskets being really special, my mom would always put the best stuff in each child's basket. And because my parents love it too, we always received See's candy.
And yes, love the photos!
See,for me it's just about coloring eggs and having an egg hunt with the grandboys. I'll call that a good celebration...although I do have to say that now that all the kids are older and I have to box up their Easter celebrations and send them in the mail it becomes a little trickier. Can't exactly mail Easter eggs! The real ones. Let me go on record as saying the only appropriate Easter eggs are real eggs. The plastic ones are an abomination. For the outside hunt, okay, but they're not real eggs, people!
Eggs! I forgot about coloring Easter eggs in natural food dye!!
Or you could hand paint them in subtle shades to coordinate with your table...
So, you're saying that my boys Easter baskets that look like basketballs and soccer balls are a no-no??
And that would probably mean that the green camoflaged eggs I found to put in my military-minded son's basket are also a faux pas?
We're in big trouble....
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the pic's your way better than Martha Stewart maybe cuz your a real mom doing things in a real way for her family! You know if I had made that dress it would look better on you! (no offense sis.) the sleeves should have been shorter and something different on the neckline would help. I don't know how your grandma did it but often on Sat. before Easter our dresses were still in pieces and by Sun. morning they were all finished ready to wear to church!! Last year I altered my daughters boughten dresses to look better and be more modest. (yes I do buy them too) but I've been wanting to make myself a particular dress for a long time so I was determind to have it done even though I had to stay up all night to do it! Yes, I am my Mothers daughter! I agree with Chris about the eggs, growing up my neighbors would decorate dozens of real eggs and we would put all of ours together and hide them all afternoon. I'm not crazy about the plastic eggs with candy, why do they need more candy! Other than new dresses and shoes the only real Easter presents we had was our individual baskets with candy and a chocolate bunny in it! One year when I was 4yrs old we got a real rabbit!! Do I dare ask if you used a cake mix for that scrumptious looking cake or is it by scratch? I've thought about making a cake like that so send me the receipt OK! Happy Easter!
Holy cake! That is amazing. And I bought Sees for the kids but ate it all already. Maybe I can get some more tomorrow?
My favorite part is the bit about doing all this "while keeping a clean house and a cheerful demeanor". But there's just no way I can do it like Alisha. Just reading this makes me want to go take a nap.
Love the old pics! I love that you're so willing to openly mock your past self for our enjoyment. I recently unearthed a priceless pic of Alisha, circa 1992. I was hoping to use it as blackmail, but apparently it won't do me any good since you're already posting so many gems. It's a beauty though.
Two things: One I am already craving your coconut lime cake. two of my favorite things combined. I will need the recipe. Second, I am actually grateful for once that I am on bed rest and have a good reason to not feel guilty that my Easter dinner won't be nearly as cool as yours. Next year my excuse will be that I have twins. After that, I'll have to stop being lazy.
love this post. "If it's not caught on camera, it's like it didn't even happen!"
I remember the days when I hand made Easter dresses...
lately, day to day normal living is so time consuming alone, that to squeeze in fancy to-dos on holidays is just too much. It sneaks up on you. Can we still be friends?
this year with the girls in Utah and the boys with Dad, we weren't together on Easter, so to make up for it - but not wanting to climb into the attic for baskets - after school today, we devised a scavenger hunt where the end treasure was a chocolate bunny (half-price at Target this morning), church movie and flipflops.
Keep it up, Mrs. Scannington. Hopefully some of my circa 1990's pics will make it on here one day.
Totally had the exact same dress, only in pink with pink shoes. I also had that hair.
And speaking of hair (again), I don't remember you doing the brown a few years back but I think it looks good from the picture. I understand, though, about expense and maintenance. Browns can look flat without highlights or other colors woven in and that just gets ridiculous if you have to do it every 6 weeks.
Anyway, this post cracked me up. I read it on Sunday after the mania was over and was so pleased that we shared the same perspective on the importance of this holiday. Mike just posted an explanation of our Easter prep, of which I think you will approve :)
http://mbcgfamily.blogspot.com/2010/04/easter-2010-as-told-by-mike.html
I think you put new pictures up since last time I checked. That cake looks like heaven! Is it easy to make? The Lime in the Coconut is one of my favorite songs so I think it would be euphoric to listen to the song and eat that cake at the same time.
My mom got the girls beautiful matching white and light blue dresses for Easter but we let them eat Easter candy before we took pictures so now I have to wash their dresses (pray the chocolate comes out) and recreate Easter sometime this week for the sake of pictures. Next year pictures come first!!
To so called Your Favorite Aunt - of course you could've made anything better, however, the sleeves were THE STYLE way back then, and were actually properly made. They just really look weird now. You might have some old patterns you made or even designed yourself that now look sortof weird. Humph! :)
Hey Judy,
I remember having dresses VERY similar to Alisha's--and that dress showed off her figure very well.
Alisha, do you have a picture of the peach Easter dress with the "bib" collar? We thought we were hot stuff that year!
I just love this post. Reminds me of the ideals magazine.
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