When our boys were growing up, Christmas was definitely my favorite holiday. I loved decorating (that is, over-decorating!) the house, decking the halls if you will--the tree especially. I loved it when it snowed, so that we could enjoy a white Christmas (and we lived in NH, so that was a lot more likely than it is down here in VA!). I loved our Christmas Eve tradition of pizza and Christmas crackers in the dining room, with our boys drinking sparkling grape juice out of fancy wine glasses. I loved the whole magic of Santa coming and stockings hung on the mantle--and just the whole kit and caboodle: the gifts and the yummy foods, the traditional carols, the Nativity pageants, and all the beautiful trappings of the season.
Easter was always such a joyful time, too, and that holiday came in a close second for me.
But in my old age, Easter has kind of taken the top spot. Of course, there could be no Easter Sunday without Christmas; Our Lord had to be born first, so that He could suffer and die for the salvation of mankind. But Easter is just the pinnacle, really. The greatest celebration of the liturgical year. We are an Easter people, as the saying goes.
Don't get me wrong; I still love Christmas. But once all your children are grown, married, and starting family traditions of their own, it's just different. They will want to be in their own houses on Christmas morning when their little ones wake up, which is exactly how you wanted it when they lived under your roof and exactly how it should be. It's all good, but it's just different. Trying to pick a time to have a family gathering gets complicated over time, as each of your children makes plans with both you and the family of their spouse. Also, there are such high expectations for the Christmas season--not just as far as gifts go, but in other ways, too. And yikes, can we talk about gifts! With 20 grandchildren so far (and another one currently on the way), trying to decide what to do for all of them is tricky. My husband and I can't be the grandparents who spoil their grandchildren rotten with lots of expensive presents, not when we have so many to think about. In past years, we've gotten them toys. But I think the time has come to give the more traditional, less exciting grandparent-style gifts, such as books and clothes. Or maybe a crisp ten-dollar bill, like my husband's parents gave to each of our boys and their cousins when the number of grandchildren got out of hand. (They eventually had 32!)
Anyway, Easter in comparison is so easy and utterly devoid of stress. I usually make each family a relatively simple basket filled with candy and small gifts. And I absolutely love preparing for our big brunch. I get a kick out of setting everything up and planning the menu. I ended up rearranging the whole breakfast nook this year, so we could use the main kitchen table for a buffet, and it worked so well that I may have to do this for all Pearl parties moving forward.
For our feast this year I decided to put together a make-your-own-breakfast-burrito bar with scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, cheese, and other toppings. All the girls pitched in, and we had some delicious sides: pasta salad, Caesar salad, fruit, deviled eggs, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, coffee cake, lemon bread, croissants, mimosas...and chocolates! No one went away hungry, that's for sure.
It wouldn't be a Pearl get-together if during the post-party clean-up, Grammy didn't find something like this.
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| Do you see the nibble marks? LOL |
Every year since we moved to VA in 2017, we've had all the Pearls who live near us here over for brunch, after they've all been to Mass and the kids have found their Easter baskets. It's becoming a tradition that means so much to me. Between 2017 and 2021, our Easter celebrations included our four oldest boys and their families, and all of our grandchildren; but son #1 moved to Iowa early in 2022, so starting last Easter, it's been the families of sons #2, #3, and #4 and their children. (Son #5 and his wife, parents of a new baby girl who will be baptized tomorrow, live near Nashville.) This year, we were also joined by one daughter-in-law's parents, who live in the area, and a dear college friend of two daughters-in-law, a gal who is almost like family. So altogether we had 11 adults and 13 children, aged 8 and under. It was wonderfully chaotic, wonderfully noisy, and just plain wonderful.
We always have an Easter egg hunt.
We don't have a huge yard here in our sweet little cookie cutter neighborhood; it's nothing more than a strip of grass along the side of our house. But somehow, it's enough.
I dearly hope that these crazy days spent at their Papa and Grammy's house will become part of our grandkids' Easter memories, and that they will look back fondly on them when they have families of their own.
