Easter Remembrances...

 

With Easter being just a few days ago, I always think of my grandma on Easter.  I think of her in part because Easter was just one of many large, boisterous family celebrations we would have at my grandma’s house and also she suffered a stroke on Easter Sunday morning, and that Easter was so totally different than any I’d ever experienced in any of my 14 years of life up to that point. 

She always had the whole family over, all 5 of her children and their spouses and all of the grandchildren and, once they came along the great grandchildren as well.  She would always cook a bone-in ham from Wenneman’s Meat Market and also have roast beef and gravy, huge pots of mashed potatoes and vegetables, and everyone would bring something to go along with the meal.  There would be tables in the back bedroom and at least one (sometimes two) in the living room to seat everyone.  We said grace as a whole family and dug in to a fantastic meal!  There always seemed to be enough and always had leftovers.  For desert there were pies, cakes and cookies. Before you left, you always had to have a bite to eat to hold you over until you got home, usually a ham sandwich and some cookies or another piece of cake.    

After the meal the kids would go out for an Easter Egg Hunt, young and older alike. The older cousins would help the younger cousins, after they found as many as they could first.  Aunt Loretta would have hard boiled and colored dozens and dozens of eggs and hidden them throughout the yard.  It was always fun to try and find the most and also to find the last one (and make sure we found them all!).  

Games were played after the hunt – sometimes football, tag, or keep away, or we’d just goof around with cousins we’d see infrequently.  So much fun was had by all! 

The first picture included here today is of my grandmother, Mary (Weber) Mueller, in what I imagine to be her Easter coat and hat ready to go to church, probably circa 1950’s. The second picture is of my Aunt Loretta Mueller circa 1960’s in her Easter finest.   The third picture is of some of my cousins after the hunt showing off their bounty, circa 1955. 

 

A toast to those who come from us and before us: 
To our children who are so caring and compassionate.  To the parents who raised them to be the best they can possibly be, and to all who have come before us, for we are all part of them and their goodness.