Celebrating

It was Easter Sunday and it's a  long story.
  It is about friends, food and family. 

I have to tell  the truth,

 Our celebration was very nice. 

 I had the table set by Thursday.

 My bread was made and in the freezer.

Friday was a bit upsetting, due to the failure of my new recipe, but thankfully, my reliable carrot cake and the box mix Angel food turned out fine.

Note: thanks to Liz, she got all excited that I was trying a new cake recipe and there would be no carrot cake for my family.  So I made the carrot cake first. Then started on the new recipe. When the 3 layers were as flat as pancakes, I threw them out.  

Nore:  thanks to Martha, when I told her my woes and the options in my mind ( including crying ) she said, make the angel food cake.  So I made the angel food cake and used the butter cream frosting for both cakes. The carrot cake is the one with little tiny almost carrots.  The angel food cake is the one with almost real robins eggs on a bed of coconut. 

 Sunday morning all I had to do was pop the ham into the oven.  Darrell always cooks breakfast ( eggs and toast ) on Sunday.   Then I posted two signs. 
 One was the list for the person who got home first.

The other was for anyone who wanted to hide the eggs if the weather was nice enough.

 The eggs were in a basket under the list. These were filled with candy. 

By the time I got home, all three kids and families were there. The kitchen was in full swing and I had practically nothing to do.  Since the weather was wet,the hunt was inside and  I got to help the kids find the  eggs. 

 First the rec room( all eggs were inside closed doors ).These will filled with $1. (three each )  Then to the living room ( this is where the dads had hidden most of the eggs from the basket )

Soon I realized that the dads had also added the unmarked carton of eggs that was on the dessert table. ( not in the basket under the list )
 They did not know they were the resurrection eggs.
  Darrell had put them together Saturday night and copied out the verses. So I had to very discreetly pull all those eggs from the baskets of the three boys and Damon put them back together   
Darrell did not find out until much later.

There is still time before lunch,   so the second round of eggs in the living room         ( all these eggs were under cushions )         These were filled with candy and coins. 

The final set of eggs were on high shelves and they were stuffed with match box cars  - two for each boy.

End of egg hunt

Dinner is served.

Ham, red potatoes, dill bread, asparagus, Tiffany had brought fresh pineapple and some celebration

Anita brought deviled eggs ( that is a tradition now )

Our new friends brought some Ukrainian  sweet bread and some pickled treats

Damon made the coffee - the second pot was an Italian brand also  from our new friends.

(and  they  brought each  little man a lego kit and some Lindt candy, table decorations and a pretty tea towel )

Then the resurrection eggs  12 eggs passed around to the 10 of us - went well, but nothing profound. Lots of commotion going on .  

Favorite verse:  For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16  

that was in egg # 1 

The final egg - empty,  like the tomb, empty because Jesus is where? 

Read Candy's book, or the Bible  and find out. 

Dessert -  two cakes 

Conversation 

party favors : Candy Doud's  book and Lindt bunnies

Oh, Darrell had cut many white camellias for our centerpiece.  It looked very nice on Saturday night - by Sunday morning some had already started to turn brown around the edges, but I have learned never to make apologies once we have prayed. 

The best part of the day was having my family meet our new friends. I knew my girls would love Anna and they did. Her husband hit it off with Christian,and their son, though he is 13 going on 20 seemed very content with any adult conversation AND the egg hunt. 

Despite conversation in the kitchen  " Mom always cleans up at my house, and Dad always cleans up at home", 

by Darrell's bedtime, he had not washed a single spoon. 

 Dirty dishes wait for you.

and they waited for me. 

 The dishwasher made short order of the very dirty plates

and a second load with those pots and pans.

All that is left,  happy memories   
Thankful for daughters who can take over in the kitchen and make decisions that are very helpful
And a son who was a barista at a previous employment, and makes great coffee. 

Hope you have happy memories, too.