Monday, February 22, 2010

easter memories

dear emily,

i know it's a little early, but my friend vee jumpstarted the
festivities, and now i can't stop thinking about it.

here's our favorite easter tradition.  my carpenter friend built
us an eight foot high wooden cross that we draped with
purple cloth until easter morning and placed it on our front
lawn.   early sunday morning i would  replace the cloth with
dozens of gold mylar balloons.

then we would decorate long tables and load them up with
donuts, fruit, juice, coffee, and hot chocolate.  around 8:00,
nine or ten families with colonies of children would jump
out of their cars all dressed up in their easter finest or still
in their jammies, we didn't care which.

we had a group of guitars with lots of singing and playing,
and donuts flying through the air.  at 9:00, each child let a
balloon go,  and we watched them all soar together into the
sky.   i am amazed now that not even the tiniest child ever
fussed about losing his balloon.

i told hans yesterday that i'm going to up the ante a bit with
my grandchildren and hire a hot air balloon.  he thinks i'm
kidding.

love,
lea

ps.  "up from the grave, He arose with a mighty triumph
o'er His foes!..."

28 comments:

Vee said...

Wow! A hot air balloon! What memories that'll make. I think the gold balloons sound very festive and joyous and celebrative.

You asked about posting pictures...I either ask for and receive permission, as you may note that I did with Nita's painting. Or, if it is from a specific web site that I'd like to promote, I link back to them...always considered good netiquette or if it's something anyone could find by Googling, I just source it to "Google Images." If anyone ever had a problem [no one ever has with my blog, but I have seen problems with other blogs and one just this weekend], I would certainly apologize and remove the picture. When using another blogger's images, I ALWAYS ask first. So that's how I handle it. Wonder what other bloggers would say. Feel free to email me sometime and we can have these conversations behind the scenes.

Joan Elizabeth said...

That's quite some tradition. Reminded me of an Easter we spent with our church family in a country town Canowindra many years ago. The town is known for its hot air balloons so our Easter sunrise service on top of the local high hill was accompanied by the beauty of the balloons rising. We happened to be in the same town last Easter but I was too lazy to get out of bed at dawn.

Rita said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rita said...

What a wonderful and special Easter tradition.
Wish I could be there to be part of your celebrations...not as a grown-up though but rather as a child - must be simply amazing.
Hugs
rita

myletterstoemily said...

thank you, vee! i meant to say from google images, so now i know
just what to do. wouldn't use someone else's pictures, though.

Julie@beingRUBY said...

HI Lea
Your easter tradition sounds like a blast.. and I have to agree with Rita.. would like to be there enjoying it as a child!! donut throwing huh? hehe
My most memorable easters have been attending Greek Easter Mass and celebrations with one of my good friends.... It is quite a special moment made more so with the traditions and ceremony.....

Thanks for popping over for my last post.. xx Julie

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Love Easter and tradition. One of my favorite things about Easter morning while growing up is the basket of hot cross buns, candy eggs, chocolate that was delivered to our front door every Easter in a basket. We would later find out it was a dear friend, and at last count she was delivering over 300 baskets in the middle of the night. We never caught her in the act; we never really wanted to. We loved our Easter surprise, both the basket and the empty tomb.

peace~elaine

Winchester Manor said...

Oh what a site to behold! What an amazing tradition that you shared with so many and I'm quite sure that those children have never forgotten your wonderful tradition!

Hugs,
Karyn

Jenners said...

That would make for a very memorable Easter!

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

What a wonderful Easter tradition!

One caveat about Google images...they are all photos from other people's websites and blogs..most are copyrighted material and therefore permission is still needed to use them on your blog. To be totally honest it is better to use your own photos for illustration or copyright free images which are usually vintage images or stock photos that you may have to pay a small fee to use.

Anonymous said...

http://www.sxc.hu/ has lots of free, royalty-free images you can download. :)

myletterstoemily said...

thank you vee, pat, and liz for the invaluable information.

RA said...

Dear Lea,

I can really imagine the festive tradition at your home. It seems so beautiful just by reading your words.

I'm with Pat on the use of images. Most of the photos on my blog belong to me, because I try to avoid copyright infringement. I once had some bad experience, even with quoting the original source of the photo because it turned out as not legit. Still, I occasionally do use some photos from Photobucket.

Have a wonderful week.

Tonya Gunn said...

What beautiful memories... so, so sweet, I giggled a bit while reading.
Warm wishes,
Tonya

Karen said...

Oh, how much fun that would be! I love that idea so much.
Rejoicing with you in this wonderful season of our risen Savior!

Deborah Ann said...

What an awesome way to preach the gospel without using words!!!

myletterstoemily said...

vee, just heard from a businessman, that if i qm not advertising,
which i'm not, then i can just refer to google, if i use photos.

aaaaaaargh. so confusing! i have wonderful pics of tall grasss
prairie...

Anonymous said...

Thats sounds so lovely.Im a new follower to your blog!~~Becky

Anci said...

It sounds like a nice festival ! Oh, Easter is coming too, not just the Spring :)

Thank you for calling me a professional photographer ! That warms my heart.

Have a wonderful day

xo
Anci

MyMaracas said...

What a terrific tradition. I'm sure the event will be a fond childhood memory for those lucky kids and their parents.

Auntie sezzzzzz... said...

Oh wow! Hire a hot air balloon! You have big plans, my Dear! :-)))))))))))))

Unspoken said...

A hot air balloon? YES!

Single and Sane said...

What a wonderful tradition! I bet all of the kids who came left your house with fond memories.

Welcome! said...

Our family saves the Christmas tree behind the barn. 40 days before Easter we cut off all the branches, lop off the top part and make a cross, put the tree back in the tree stand, then paint it gold, wrap it in lights and ribbons, etc and bring it back into the house. A wonderful visual connection for the kids between Christmas and Easter. I love reading everyone else's traditions!

myletterstoemily said...

MooBee, what a great idea!

Personalized Sketches and Sentiments said...

Oh! Wow! A hot air balloon would be amazing! How fun to have so many to share such a wonderful tradition!

I am sure that these have become dear, dear memories for those that shared in this.
Blessings & Aloha!

Screaming Meme said...

I love this blog...:) It is sweet! My name is Meme from Screaming Meme...I would love to invite you to Screaming Meme...It is a decorating blog...I hope to see you there! Meme

Emily said...

I so appreciate celebration ideas, as you well know! This one sounds particularly fun. Thanks for sharing! I wish I'd asked you for ideas for keeping kids entertained on long car rides, but we managed...:)
em