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| Me with my parents, 195? |
As I dressed in my warmest clothes today, including a winter sweatshirt, I thought of my mother and how she loved tradition. Each major holiday was an occasion for an extended family reunion – as many of the family as she could manage to gather – with the appropriate trimmings. Believe me, it takes forethought and organization to do that.
Back in the day, Mother always made my Easter outfit (and sometimes her own) and completed it with new undergarments and accessories, including hats. The process involved shopping some weeks in advance of Easter for patterns and fabric and then closer to the date for shoes, purses, hats, etc. And our outfits always included some sort of jacket or light coat because often Easter was a chilly day. The process of all this making and shopping was time-consuming, but it was what we did – and what a lot of people did – back in the day.
Saturday prior to Easter, we always dyed Easter eggs, and of course, we had plenty of candy on hand – mostly jelly beans and marshmallow eggs – to fill my Easter basket as well as those of Mother’s grandchildren who happened to be present. We also hid eggs around the house, and that became my chore as I grew older. I don’t remember that we had much chocolate, except for the obligatory hollow chocolate bunny. My Easter basket had fluffy chicks and plastic eggs, and on Easter morning I’d find a small gift of some sort.
When I was a teenager, we dabbled in decorating hollowed eggs. We bored a hole in both ends of the egg and then blew out the innards. Mother then decorated them and tied them onto a deciduous branch clipped from our yard. The idea came from a magazine because, of course, there were no online tutorials in those days. We had to learn by trial and error.
You know, I loved doing projects with my mother, but I always thought that by getting so involved, we missed the point of the day, which needs quiet pondering. And working against a deadline is always stressful.
One of our sons visited us this morning and another will join us for a ham and cheese grits dinner (carrot cake for dessert) this evening, and setting the table with the good china will be my one concession to the traditions of yesteryear. KW
5 comments:
Love the photo! I'm guessing you were four. So maybe 1954? Mom always made me a new outfit, too, and new duds for John were purchased. And always pictures. I remember that she said she would get up very early to make lemon meringue pies so they would be fresh for her (always!) one o'clock dinner.
I think you're right, Chris. I turned four in '53, so it's Easter 1954. Yes, they usually took pictures on Easter, especially of me. Pictures were still a luxury in that era and not taken on an impromptu basis, so any dress-up occasion called for a picture.
Do you continue your family tradition of lemon meringue pies for Easter dinner?
I think I've posted this picture before -- I only have so many pictures, you know -- but I might just add that this appears to have been taken in Aunt Sara and Uncle Porkie's back yard. I have no memory of this, but clearly, it's Easter.
Well, we always have homemade rolls, but the pies are usually Cyrus O'Leary's and we try to find sour cream lemon and Kahlua or French Silk. Sometimes we can't find sour cream lemon or another favorite, key lime, so lemon meringue it is some years. By the time we get ready for and get home from church, homemade pies are just not in the picture. And lots of years we have a sunrise service, so that truly negates early morning pie baking.
You know, sometimes when I read the fancy recipes and holiday ideas, I wonder how people manage that. Cyrus O'Leary is fine -- even better than fine -- if it gives you more time with your family -- although I have to say, it does sound like you spend some time shopping for those pies.
Mother loved lemon meringue pie. Mike's favorite is icebox lemon pie -- and that comes together quickly.
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