Easter 2015

We had a lovely Easter this year, with both our offspring visiting with their families for the weekend.  The weather cooperated, with sunshine and comfortably cool temperatures for lots of backyard play and patio sitting.

My older granddaughter loves to cook, so we made desserts together.  One fun project was making chocolate-dipped strawberry "carrots" to garnish pots of chocolate mousse. Her younger cousin enjoyed watching the process.

The "carrots" turned out really cute! And the mousse, topped with chocolate cookie crumb "dirt," was delicious, too.

Of course, we also needed to dye some eggs for hunting!

There was also some cute cousin cuddling time on the patio.

Sunday morning the grandchildren donned their Easter outfits.

After church, four generations sat down for Easter dinner in the dining room.  The table was set with my Castleton Gloria china, and each plate was topped with gingham napkins from Pier 1 last year and Lindt chocolate carrots.  Yellow tulips and silver dishes filled with candy eggs were the centerpiece.

Our menu was traditional -- ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, rolls -- but we tried a new dessert, Emeril's banana cream pie. It was spectacular!

In Your Easter Bonnet

Will you have a new outfit for Easter this year? Was a new outfit an exciting part of your childhood Easters?

While visiting my parents last year, I found a treasure trove of patterns (now vintage!) that my mother had saved after sewing clothes for me throughout my childhood. One of my all-time favorites was this dress with coordinating coat, which I wore for Easter when I was 12 or 13. Mama made the coat in a pink and white floral, and the dress and coat collar in solid pink, both from linen-like fabric. The coat had covered buttons with fabric loops, which must have required a lot of extra time!  I wore it with pink slingback flats (and possibly white gloves -- were we still wearing gloves in the mid-1960s?) and felt very special and elegant.

To go WAY back, here I am in my Easter finery at age three and a half. Mama didn't make this dress -- my baby sister was 11 days old that Easter, so she was a little busy!  I have to wonder how much attention I paid in Sunday School, wearing that stiff petticoat, hat, gloves, and no-doubt-new shoes.

I continued the tradition, sewing for my children, especially their Sunday and special occasion outfits.  I was into smocking back then, and here are their Easter outfits in the late 1980s.  Our son looked adorable in smocked outfits until he was four, when he insisted he wanted to wear a suit for Easter!

And now there's another generation to sew for! Here's an Easter dress I made for my oldest grandchild a few years ago. I have sewed a few things for her and my grandson, but I haven't yet sewn anything for my youngest grandchild.  I HAVE knitted her a few things, but she's two now, so I need to get back to my sewing machine!