The Day After Easter

There is a perfect way to boil Easter eggs. No joke! I learned it from Martha Stewart. You put them in a pan, cover them with cold water, bring them to a boil, turn the heat off, cover it with a lid and let them rest for 11 minutes. Viola! Perfectly boiled Easter eggs! Of course you have to take the time to dye them and decorate them. I used to dread that part of Easter when my kids were little. The messy dye, the fragile eggs, the clean up afterwards. This year I did it alone. No mess, no broken eggs, no fun! Now I can’t even get the kids to eat them. What happened?

This is the first year since we’ve had children that I didn’t do Easter baskets. I did one communal basket and put unopened bags of candy in it. That was it. I bought one little Beanie Baby for my grandson and called it good. It didn’t help that Wal-Mart was in the middle of expanding and I walked around for twenty minutes without finding a single thing to buy. Fred Meyer wasn’t much better. They are redoing their floors and nothing is where it belongs! I can get that at home! I didn’t even buy a new dress, hat, shoes or even gloves. Where is the Easter Spirit?

Well, it could be in my perfectly cooked ham (Martha didn’t teach me that, it’s been trial and error), the sunshiny mandarin orange and pineapple fruit salad or the lovely tulips Jolene brought home. But somehow I think it would all just be empty celebrating of spring without being able to respond, “Indeed, He is risen,” to my sister’s cheery greeting of, “He is Risen!” Somehow between December 25th and April 12th, the “Sweet Little Jesus, Boy” became the “Lamb that was slain” and then the “Risen Messiah.” It’s like the old song says about love and marriage, you can’t have one without the other. The babe in the stable would have been just another poor baby if he hadn’t become a sacrificial Lamb, the slain Lamb would have become just another sad story without the resurrection. Somehow this realization puts perfectly boiled eggs and baskets filled with candy and bunnies back into perspective.

So, on this snowy Monday, I will clean the snow off my car, head out to work and rejoice knowing, “He is Risen!”

A Day At Home

The coffee pot was empty again! Three times this morning I went to get a cup of fresh coffee and it was just dregs! My children are becoming what Kristen put so eloquently, coffeepot heads. But now they are all gone to work and school and the only one left is Rosie and she doesn’t drink coffee. So I will enjoy my bubbling, gurgling, steaming cup of fresh brewed coffee ALL BY MYSELF!

I have tulips on my table. They are so lovely! It’s amazing how the rest of the house can be a total clutter catastrophe and a little beauty will capture my attention and make me less frustrated. They speak of warmer days to come and lend me a little natural color to off set the bleak white and gray of snow and ash.

I’m home today and it’s a good day to be home. The wind is blowing and the sky is cloudy and looking like more snow. It’s too cold for an April Shower so holing up with a book is a blessing. On days when I can stay in my house for a full day without even checking the mail I am at my best! I exercised, ate raisin bran cereal, and now I’m sitting in my mismatched grubbies emptying my brain onto a paper that doesn’t really exist. I’m looking forward to an afternoon with Julian and the evening being relaxed. Yes, Thursdays are usually my favorite.

I’m always glad when the month of March is over. It’s usually the cruel month with the come-hither sunshine that lures you into sweaters and jackets, then zaps you with cold breezes and unexpected rain or snow, and this year, ash. But as the snow begins to fall outside my window, I realize that April doesn’t know that it’s her turn to shine. Of course it’s only day two of the month, but we’ve been waiting a long time! Wake up, April!