We celebrated Everly’s first Easter last weekend and even though we are so far away from our family, which always makes me especially sad around the holidays, the three of us had an amazing day together.
When I was a kid, the festivities and traditions associated with the Easter holiday were always a huge deal in my house. In addition to going to mass as a family during holy week and on Easter Sunday, there were egg hunts, family get-togethers, an outdoor Easter play, and the same giant basket, filled to the brim with goodies, that always magically appeared at the foot of my bed each year. Since I have such positive and vivid memories of this holiday with my family, I am beyond excited to start Easter family traditions with Everly that she will hopefully look back on one day and treasure.
For Everly’s first Easter we started the day off by dyeing Easter eggs, a tradition that was always near and dear to my heart. She was definitely mesmerized by the bright colored water in all of the glasses, but she quickly lost interest after the color tablet stopped bubbling in the vinegar.
I am still not sure what I loved more when I was a kid though, dyeing the eggs or hunting them. One of my favorite events every year was the Easter egg hunt at my Aunt Mary’s house because the adults would hide one plastic egg with a $20 bill in it. Of course I never found the egg with the money, which usually resulted in a small meltdown, but regardless, I enjoyed the thrill of the hunt.
I can hardly wait for the day when Miss Everly can actually hunt for the eggs after we dye them. I am sure my dad would tell me to be careful what I wished for if he heard me say this because he still recalls hiding Easter eggs in October one year because I was so fond of this tradition. He claims that he got so tired of hiding plastic eggs that he resorted to hiding them in the most obscure places so that I couldn’t find them.
Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to mass this year because the service fell right in the middle of her morning nap-time. When it came down to choosing between standing in the back of the church with a screaming baby or a nap, we chose sleep. Everly is definitely a creature of habit who struggles to keep it together when we don’t stick to her nap schedule, so for now, this a tradition that will definitely have to wait a few years.
Even though we didn’t manage to make it to church this year, I still wanted to dress her up and take some pictures of her. When she woke from her second nap we put her in one of her “dolly” dresses and took her to the park. After searching for a nice stretch of grass we finally found the perfect spot to take some photos. She was a little sketched out by all the green grass at first, but we eventually managed to get a few good shots to capture her first Easter.
After enjoying a nice family stroll and an afternoon in the park, we returned home to wind down for the evening. After Miss Everly went to sleep Danny and I sat down and enjoyed our traditional Easter feast: Honey Baked ham, homemade cornbread dressing, and green bean casserole. After dinner we tried not to make ourselves sick on Easter candy, but who can resist Peeps, Cadbury Eggs, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs, and Robin Eggs.
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