Have you written Easter memories for your Family Memory Book? This is one I wrote a few years ago.
I’ve been thinking about the Easter celebrations of my
childhood years in the Chicago
area during the 1940’s. When Easter fell in March or early April, we donned colorful
spring dresses and coats to walk to church in sharp north winds, even a little snow
on occasion.
On one of those bitter cold Easter mornings, I had a new aqua-blue
spring coat and hat that I’d looked forward to wearing. Mother told me it was
much too cold to wear it. “You have too far to walk to church. You’ll freeze,”
she said.
I begged and begged. “Please let me wear it. I’ll wear a
sweater underneath.” Tears slipped from my eyes as I waited for her to give in.
They were genuine, not a ploy. Wearing that new coat was a monumental need at
that moment at age eight.
Mother relented, but I did have to wear the sweater I’d
proposed underneath my lightweight, pastel-colored coat. I think I was very
glad to have it as my brother and I headed to church to hear the Easter story
once again. My parents never attended church
with us. Theirs was a mixed marriage—Dad was Catholic and
Mother Methodist, and neither ever gave in to the other. But we kids all
attended the Methodist church and Sunday School. Dad polished our shoes every
Saturday night so we’d look our best on Sunday mornings. He buffed them to a
high shine and lined them up in the living room.
The day before Easter, we dyed eggs in glorious colors.
Coffee cups filled with hot water, a dye tablet and a splash of vinegar covered
the kitchen table. We arranged the eggs on a big platter with artificial grass
as a nest. The Easter Bunny would hide them while we slept that night.
The Easter Bunny usually brought us a few chocolates, jelly
beans and a new comic book. He also hid the brightly colored eggs in our living
and dining rooms. What fun it was to discover the decorated eggs, one or two of
which we always found in Dad’s shoes left out overnight.
Later in the day, aunts, uncles and cousins joined us for a
special dinner. Mother usually fixed a leg of lamb or a big ham, glazed with
brown sugar and mustard, cloves inserted in the scored top. Many side dishes
weighed down the dining room table-- scalloped or mashed potatoes, two or three
vegetables, a jello salad, homemade rolls, pickles, olives and pickled beets,
and a springtime dessert of some kind, cream pies, berry pies, or a cake with
whipped cream frosting. The aroma of all these good things filled our small
apartment.
When we were all too full to move, it was time to do dishes.
No dishwashers, but all the women pitched in and they were finished in no time.
Maybe not all the women. I had one aunt who always announced she needed to use
the bathroom as soon as the cleaning up began. Off she went, and she never
appeared in the kitchen again! The clatter of dishes and the chatter of women
filled the tiny kitchen. My cousin, Carol, and I were drafted at an early age
to dry the silverware, a job neither of us liked. We hurried through our task
so we could walk to the park to play the rest of the afternoon. Occasionally, we finished our Easter
celebration by going to the movies. We sat transfixed at the fabulous musicals
starring Betty Grable or some other glamorous star.
.
The rebirth of springtime flowers, trees and bushes still
symbolizes the meaning of Easter for me. Christ’s resurrection created a
rebirth for all Christians, and as He taught us to love one another, I also
think of the love of family as part of our Easter celebrations. It isn’t only
the ones of my childhood but for today, as well. We will be spending this
Easter holiday with our daughter’s family, going to church, having a
celebration dinner, and being together. Not so very different than all those
years ago.
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