Monday, April 25, 2011

Easter Makes Me Homesick

When I was little we always spent Easter down on the Farm.  We would spend the afternoon with all of our cousins and relatives.  We would play basketball in the hayloft and push each other on the tire swing.  We would indulge in a huge pot luck style early dinner and then it would be nap time.  The kids would all tromp up the old wooden staircase and rush to lay down on old creaky box spring beds and nap so the Bunny would hop by and leave us treasures outside.  Easter was not only about celebrating the fact that He Has Risen, but it was also about family...faith and family. 

I think for that reason, I always get a little homesick on this holiday (of course, the fact that SHE just left makes the holiday hard too).  I miss my family.  I mourn the fact that my children won't grow up with similar memories.  They didn't spend Easter surrounded by extended family, or even friends that might as well be family.  We spent the holiday alone...a family of four, which should be plenty.  I should be reveling in the fact that we are creating our own little traditions instead of lamenting on Easters past, egg hunts that we no longer participate in and family style dinner invitations that don't come our way.  I should be happy that my kids are healthy, and we are having quality family time, but somehow there is a touch of sadness in what we miss while living so far away from family.

So, we made the best out of it, despite the fact that our A/C unit on our 1st floor stopped working mid-day on Saturday, despite the fact that it was 83 degrees and HUMID in our house all day long, despite the fact that it rained, and that Publix closed before I got French Bread to complete the meal that Stouffer's made for me.  My children didn't know the difference and they enjoyed themselves.

Thursday night, we dyed eggs with Daddy.
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See that tooth on the bottom right.  Its days are numbered. 

I love this photo.  The egg somehow ended up in perfect focus.  This was Chloe's first egg dying adventure.  She caught on quickly.
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As the sun set, we left our eggs to dry and took a dip in the pool before bedtime.
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Church was a highlight of our Easter morning.  The girls looked so cute in the coordinating dresses.  Hubs tried his best to get everyone to look at him for the photo.  I had 10 pictures to choose from, everyone took turns looking odd, I chose to the post the one that I looked the least odd in. :)
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After nap time it was time for our egg hunt.  We did it indoors this year.  It turns out that the bunny brought a lot of chocolate and well, that would just be messy outside.
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Chloe finds an egg hidden under Elmo's arm.

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Oh the expression!  Cam found an egg hidden in the chair.  Is it just me, or does she look about 8 years old in this photo?  She also slept over at a friend's house on Friday night.  She never cried, she never asked to come home, and she can't wait to do it again.  It's like she grew up overnight. 
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My whole world and some baskets.
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Oh dear, this is her "cheese" face.  
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The bunny brought her bubbles and she was over the moon about them.
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And here she is wishing that the A/C was working.  I feel ya, Chloe.
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After exchanging a string of emails with a friend this morning about our holiday and the way we like to spend it.  I've decided that next year I will make a more concentrated effort to celebrate Easter the way that makes me happiest, to continue creating our own traditions, and that it's okay for my children's memories to differ from my own. 
I hope you had a wonderful Easter.
He has Risen Indeed.

14 comments:

Moments and Impressions said...

Happy Easter! Wow... she looks like such a big girl in the photo.

Unknown said...

Love those pictures! Looks like the girls had a great time. I love the memories of my easter too.

LeeAnn said...

I'm so sorry you were homesick and feeling the way you were feeling, but it looks like the kids had a fabulous Easter! You're right...it's time to make your own traditions.

I love the pictures! Cam definitely looks older than she is in that picture...and super tall too!

I'll see you in FIVE days! :-) (Can you tell I'm just a little excited?)

B F said...

I seriously love your pictures... especially with you and your two babes... gorgeous!

Ashley Sisk said...

Well it still looks like you had a good time but I feel much the same way when I think how our children won't be surrounded by nearly the number of family members that me and my husband did...especially his family since they all live over 4 hours away.

Eastlyn and co. said...

Great post, Carol. With all of my family and my husband's family being nearby, holidays are hectic at times. I wish we could just stay home and have "small family" time sometimes. Then I feel guilty about the fact that our parents are aging (Mike's dad just passed last Thanksgiving) and we won't always have the opportunity to celebrate "big family-potluck style" forever. I have a feeling one day I'll be longing for the hectic get togethers. I feel your pain on being torn between wanting to create memories for your girls simliar to your own cherished memories and branching out to establish traditions of your own. I love the girls' coordinating dresses...makes me a little sad I didn't have 2 girls to dress alike. Happy Easter!

Jennifer said...

Carol..what a great photo of you and the girls, no strange faces...LOL! I am sure it is hard for you to be away from your family on the holidays. The hubs and I just had this discussion on how our child memories differed and the traditions that we did growing up are now just memories. We will, and try to, incorporate some what we know into our new traditions with our kids. You are truly blessed to have a beautiful family and I know that they dod not know any different on the holidays. It is what you want it to be. And I am sure no matter where you are, you want the A/C to work..LOL!

Liz said...

I'm so sorry that you felt this way on Easter. Although, I know how easy it is to remember old memories and recall past traditions. We want those special traditions for our families because they were so special to us, as kids.

It's hard living in a place without family ... and it hits me during the holidays as well. It's just hard.

I wish we could have been together to celebrate such a special day!!

Miss ya TONS!

Liz said...

Oh yeah, the photos are great! Especially Chloe's cheese face and the photo showing Cam's excitement.

Glad you got in a photo - you look great!

Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too said...

I'm so sorry you felt homesick.
The pictures of your girls are adorable!

Sassy said...

Great pictures Carol! The look of Camdyn's face finding that egg, is priceless! lol And the b&w of Chloe is so precious!


Sorry you felt homesick. It's great though that you guys can make your own traditions! The girls will have great memories of their childhood because they have loving parents who make it a point to make life special! :)

Amanda said...

OMG, I love these pictures!!! Their faces are priceless!!!
Happy belated Easter, and I think it is great you are trying to create your own traditions. It's not necessarily what you do or it being the same as you remember, it's just giving your girls the same feelings of family and tradition that you had

Adriel Booker said...

Being away from family during holidays is especially hard, isn't it?! I can SO relate to that. Mine are on another continent. :( I've worked really hard to establish new traditions for our little family, and that actually helps A LOT. Now I think of holidays as "ours" not just "theirs" that I'm missing out on. I still miss them of course, but it makes our own holidays so much more enjoyable! Anyway, happy belated Easter! I realize I'm totally late posting this. Was going through my google reader and commenting on starred posts when I realized this one somehow got a little buried! Oops. :)

Sterling Delorme said...

They surely had fun looking for those Easter eggs. Hahaha! The girls look funny because of their facial reactions! Good thing you shot a photo of the moment... they'll surely enjoy reliving those as they grow up.