Easter 2013

We just spent the first Easter in our new house...in our new community. It was great having most everyone here for at least some part of the weekend. One thing I've really tried with my own kids is something I learned from my mother-in-law, Mammaw Jack. She never made a particular fuss for us to be "home" for a holiday on that specific date. She said you can celebrate anytime the family is all together. She realizes that her 3 boys each have wives and children and traditions all their own. We don't see my family very much, because they all live out-of-state. Mammaw Jack never made me feel guilty about the times we missed part (or all) of a holiday weekend at her house, because we were with my family. In fact, she encouraged me to spend as much time as possible with them. I'm trying to do the same with my children, especially since one is already married...and the others will likely all be married at some point in the future. I absolutely LOVE it when everyone is here, but I try not to make anyone feel guilty if they aren't.

Easter is known for a lot of things. It's tied with Christmas as my favorite holiday. Seriously, as a Christian, these two celebrations are the cornerstones on which my faith is built. Without Jesus' birth, death and resurrection, the world would never know HOPE...and we wouldn't be able to live forever in Heaven with God when we die!

I take the meaning of these holidays very seriously, but holidays also mean family gatherings, and family gatherings mean...FOOD.

In my family, Easter means deviled eggs. I don't eat deviled eggs. I mean, YUCK. Jim and Joshua are about the only ones in our family who do...but in the spirit of Grandma Ellen (may she rest in peace), I feel the need to continue the legacy of smelling up the house and refrigerator with food that is disgusting when you watch someone eat it; Especially if they don't have their dentures in. Or, if they are talking and eating one at the same time. Or, if you can hear them chewing it. Or, if they don't chew it at all, but just swallow it nearly whole.

Talk about jump-starting a vomit.

In fact, I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.

I make deviled eggs maybe 3 or 4 times a year...and I don't know what I'm doing...I just do what my Mom did: mayo, mustard and some sweet relish...topped with a sprinkle of Paprika.

Right?

I never know how long to boil the egg...do you cover them and let them sit after the boil? I don't know! What I DO know is that I don't want to slice it open and find that it's oozing that yellow stuff, so I boil the fire out of them, just to be sure.

About a week before Easter, an article popped up on my news-feed on how to properly boil an egg. It had pictures and everything! The first couple of pictures showed undercooked eggs, and then there was one labeled the "perfect egg..." followed by a couple more pictures. The last picture showed an egg that looked exactly like every egg I've ever boiled in my entire life: yellow center, dark ring around the yolk. They said if it had that dark ring, it was "overcooked."

Under that picture, this caption: "bless your heart."

("He has made everything beautiful in its time..." Ecclesiastes 3:11)