Easter brought many things to prepare for in our house. Of course dying our eggs was the most fun. Drawing pictures on them of bunnies, writing whose name the egg was for. (FYI, when I got older, writing dirty words on the eggs and dad finding them could cause a mess of trouble. Well he tried, but mom was laughing, and he really didn’t have a chance).
A yearly favorite was “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” a new cartoon special, with, yes, it’s true, Casey Kasem voicing Peter himself. This guy would become pretty important in my teen years!
In my younger years my mother would try and find some girly adorable dress, to put her big time tomboy into. And of course a suit for my brother. Lucky him. The last time I recall my mother winning and putting me in something frilly, it took her and dad to hold me down to do it.
My dress was purple silk, with white lace across it. I felt like a captured purple lace zebra. Next came tights. Okay, we all know I tripped up the stairs going to church and totaled them before I got in. And last of all the little white gloves that I would fuss with until mom finally grabbed them and put them in her purse. Along with a used hankie that I prayed she wouldn’t come at me with at any point.
Sometimes, the Easter Bunny would come early and we would find a neat basket with goodies in it encased in see through plastic, with a big bow sitting next to our bed. Sometimes the basket might be found later in the morning outside, (and don’t forget to save the grass in it. Baby Jesus would get a spruce up in the nativity come Christmas) Once in awhile that silly ol’ bunny would take our eggs we dyed and scatter them all over the back yard. That was so fun, usually if eggs were scattered it meant cousins were coming for Easter Dinner.
Easter dinner was always ham with all the fixings. Usually just family, but once in awhile Grama Barger made it from Iowa on the train. Those were the most fun. We would meet her at the depot, which was excitement in itself. The Sandhills Rocket would pull up to the Depot and we would be so excited to see who would see Grama first. I do remember one Easter we spent in Iowa City with our Grandparents. They kept saying, “If you’re good, we will go to “see the rabbits.” Well the big day came, we made the trip and there were no dang rabbits. So my brother and I were bummed. Turns out they were saying we were going to “Cedar Rapids” not see the rabbits. What a cruel mix up. The day was saved, grandma managed to find a place that had a giant rabbit machine, and you could pull the handle and an egg would drop out. It was pretty awesome.
Wishing you all a very Happy Easter, treasure those memories!