What was I saying?

Can you find the gift left by the Easter Bunny?

So I know it has been a while since I filled you in on the goings on and what-not -- and I have no excuse, so whatever. Moving on.

How've you been? Here, things are great! Spring is busting out all over the place -- with daffodils and tulips and forsythia and azaleas.

Our memories are short -- I guess that's just human nature; and as recently as a month ago we wondered if we would ever get out from under the Blizzards of 2010.

So now, I do break into a grin when I see my front yard just completely rampant with crazy color.

I decided that our Easter would bust out with crazy color, too. Dig my fabulous new tablecloth! Here's the thing about this table: it was the first piece of furniture my parents bought when they got married; when I got married, they gave it to me. My mom always insisted on keeping protective pads and a tablecloth on it, and I do the same thing. So now every time I unfurl a pretty tablecloth it evokes a wonderful memory of my mother. The basket on the left was the basket she filled for me every spring until I was 33 years old; now I fill it for the tall boy.

Easter at our house is really framed around the three days of the Triduum; in the Catholic Church these are the three most holy days of the year. Can I just say we spent a lot of time at church?!

On Holy Thursday, the tall boy (along with eleven other young men) represented our parish community as he had his feet washed by our priest. This is often experienced as a humbling and moving gesture, but truthfully, the tall boy was more concerned with not looking like a dork as he walked up to the altar with "one shoe off and one shoe on" like the nursery rhyme.

Meanwhile the sunny girl, plagued by hay fever, was attacked by the lilies and hyacinths.

On Good Friday, we venerated the Cross in a tradition that reminds us of the suffering of Jesus which was necessary for our redemption.

And the sunny girl, stalked by the tulips and azaleas, sought Kleenex in the sacristy.

On Saturday night, at the Easter Vigil, we began the ancient liturgy in darkness, lit only by the Easter candle. The Old Testament readings evoked the covenant that God made with the Jews -- His chosen people. As we sang "Glory to God in the highest," bells rang out and the sanctuary filled with light, introducing the readings of the New Testament -- and reminding us that Jesus is the true light of the world.

The two tall boys (mine and Coleen's) served as torch bearers during this liturgy, carrying these cool swinging torches. Latin purists would call them "lucifers" instead of torchbearers. I'm not sure how I feel about that!

The oldest girl served as an usher; look how pretty she is, even from the back!

And the sunny girl carried a full box of tissues with her, knowing that between the flowers and the candles and the incense, she was in for a long night.

I do hope that you and those you love had a beautiful Easter, filled with jelly beans and deviled eggs and your favorite kind of chocolate. And I hope that you were able to experience the joy of re-birth, renewal, Resurrection, and rejoicing.

And then more jelly beans.