While Pop was the master of gardening, nature, science,
and bird watching, Mom’s super power was celebrating holidays. She had an
innate gift for making them joyous occasions no matter what. Easter was one of
those special happy times she created.
It all started with the dying of Easter eggs. It was
quite a production. While the eggs were boiling we gathered the magical kit of
dye tabs, metal look, paper stickers with pictured of bunnies and chicks, and
that wondrous was crayon we could use to write our names and greetings. There
were usually 6-8 color tabs in the packet, so we got the same number of old
cups we would use to dissolve each tab using water and vinegar. We dipped the
eggs into the dye using the metal loop and placed it on a rack until it dried.
When we finished we had quite a pile of colorful and decorated eggs. Of course
we sampled some along the way.
Mom made her own chocolate covered eggs. The filling was
made using cream cheese, powdered sugar and something to flavor it. Our two
favorite fillings were peanut butter and cherry. Ohmagosh, those chocolate
covered sweets were so yummy good.
Even after my sister and I were grown, Mom still had
those Easter baskets waiting for us on the dining room table every Easter. She
crammed it full of jelly beans, marshmallow peeps, some kind of funky hard
marshmallow eggs with a colored sugar coating, and of course, that great big
chocolate rabbit. There would be fuzzy chicks and other toys in there when we
were younger. I still have my basket and some of the toys that she put in it.
The chicks with cowboy hats and bonnets are a bit faded now, but most of them
are still there. I use it as a center piece for my dining table these days, but
with it also comes the memories of Mom and how she made Easter a wonderful
happy time.
Sarah J. McNeal
Author
of Heartwarming Stories
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