New Life!

Easter Sunday......the day the Lenten Tree comes to life!

My Dad painted the eggs to hang on the Easter Tree. One of my favorites is the egg in the background with a little cabin painted on it!

My first Easter basket, a little faded now, with a present from the Easter Bunny....my favorite stuffed animal ....Cuddles.....as you can see Cuddles received a ton of love....and an Easter duck from Elizabeth.

I found the yellow duck at the flea market and the green one is from Erica...

a perfect match!! And my Mom's vintage cake mold in the background.

A happy little girl in 1960, with the Easter Tree and my basket!

A happy momma today, 53 years later, with 3 of my 5 girls home to celebrate Easter with Mr. Math and I.

Happy Easter!!

chris

Tradition.....

Every Lent my Dad and Mom put up what would eventually become our Easter tree......

The Lenten tree represented Christ's 40 days spent in the desert. It was a quiet, simple, and thoughtful time. A period of time where the nuns at school advocated giving up something that would be a challenge.

Most often we were encouraged to give up sweets, or a favorite drink.

My Dad and Mom had a different take on it.....I was encouraged to make an effort to help someone else...service was the name of the game.

It was not all about me, and what I was giving up, it was about helping others. Sometimes it was harder to give up my Saturday or after school time, than it was to give up Chocolate!

I still use the same branch that my Dad and Mom used....they brought it home from a walk near Half Moon Bay....in 1948!

It was stored as lovingly as their Christmas Tree.....wrapped and tucked carefully away, brought out once a year.

It's a tradition that I continued with my girls.....when they woke up Easter morning the tree had been transformed to a tree celebrating new life!

Have you given any thought as to how you might help someone else?

chris

A Package Full of Easter!

I ordered a few crocheted Easter eggs from Heather, at Vintage Grey....I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but they were soooooo cute I had to have them!!

The package I received from Heather had a few extra goodies in it........

It was like receiving a kit full of Easter! 

Elizabeth posted this past week that Sandy might (crossing my fingers) be a hosting a swap in the future...one where we trade boxes, filled with treasures....And then we would create something using the items included in the box.

I took one look at the package Heather sent and knew exactly what I was going to do with the crocheted eggs.....

I have to admit that Heather gave me a clue, saying she had included a small banner that she thought might look nice on the wreath that hangs in my kitchen window..

Here's the Easter wreath using the kit Heather sent! The only thing I added that wasn't included in the kit was the little bunny.

Thank you Heather for my Easter kit!

chris

So Pleased!!!

I had something in mind when I bought a pound of felt.....

I wasn't sure if my idea would come out the way I had pictured......

But it did!!!

I am so pleased with the way this little duck turned out!

Now it's off to work on the bunny!

chris

A Little Inspiration!

I've been feeling the need for a little Easter inspiration........

So I decided to head to Atlanta, Georgia.

A visit with my granddaughter, even though my visit is a short one, is sure to give me the boost I need!

I can't wait to get my hands on my sweet Margaret!!

chris



Molly's St. Patrick's Day.....

Growing up the big party on the block was Molly and Jerry O'Riordan's St. Patrick's Day party.

And I was lucky enough to live next door!  You could always count on corn beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots! You new when Molly had started cooking, the whole block smelled of cabbage!

And you could count on Mrs. Kelley bringing her chocolate brownies wrapped in wax paper with a rubber band around them, and Mr. Kelley bringing his squeeze box!

Dinner over the men would move the dining room table aside, and roll up the dining room rug.....

Jerry with his fiddle and Mr. Kelley with the squeeze box and the dancing would start.....so much fun as a young girl to dance and stomp your feet on the floor......we would dance until well after bedtime.....you knew the evening was coming to an end when the adults started singing Danny Boy.

My Mom and Dad retired and moved after living next door to Molly and Jerry for 30 years! Jerry and Mr. Kelley passed away many years ago.

Molly is 88 years old now and not doing too much dancing.

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I have such fond memories of St. Patrick's Day, thanks to Molly and Jerry!

The McKinley's always have corn beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots on St. Patrick's Day.

And we always have music that we can do a little jig to!

chris

A Little Spring.....

Every year for 19 years, two very small Freesia plants bloom along side the Xavier Ct. House driveway.

I did not plant them, they were here when we moved in.

Every Spring I cut them and put them on the kitchen window sill.

 Freesia is such a fragrant flower!

You can see a special tag in the background sent to me from Tammy, my Minnesota blogpal!

Just a gentle reminder that Spring is not far away!

chris