I really, really dislike Easter grass.
For that reason, I am celebrating this big news! For the first time in 20 years, I will not be celebrating the Resurrection by tracking stray strands of Easter grass throughout my house for a week after Easter. Hallelujah!
If you are the Easter basket maker or cleaner upper at your house, you know the mess to which I am referring. Whether you get the paper grass or the plastic grass, it grows and expands and sticks to everything. Long after the chocolate bunny has lost his ears and the jelly beans have disappeared, remnants of the grass remain. Purple, blue, green, pink, yellow- no matter the color, that stuff comes to stay!
Both girls are with their boyfriends’ families this weekend in far away places, so we will be childless for Easter for the first time in 21 years. Earlier this week, I mailed them both an Easter care package to insure that they received their annual supply of marshmallow peeps, jelly beans and chocolate bunnies. After all, how can we possibly honor the beauty, mystery and majesty of the Resurrection without peeps? 🙂
In case you were wondering, I did NOT include Easter grass in their packages. I will have to ask them if the lack of plastic grass impacted their ability to celebrate the joy of the season.
Sharing children with their significant others’ families on holidays was something that I thought was further away, so I was initially surprised by how the circumstances unfolded. Although I am a little sad that we won’t be together, the Easter bunny thing has never been my favorite part of this holiday anyway. Instead of lamenting the inevitable changes in this new season of our life, I am choosing to focus on the positives…like no more Easter grass!
In past years, Holy Week has also been their Spring Break, so we have often been traveling. It has been a joy this year to get to participate in the Holy Week activities at our new church, including singing in an amazing musical drama last night for Good Friday. Singing is one of my passions that has been put on the back burner for a number of years. Nothing fills me with joy like singing! Tomorrow morning, I will get the opportunity to join this magnificent choir again for 3 Easter services. Something I would not have done if I was trying to pull off labor intensive Easter basket/ Easter egg hunting traditions while getting 2 little girls into spring time Easter dresses on a morning that was too cold for spring time dresses.
Oh, but what sweet memories! 
Singing the Hallelujah Chorus 3 times on Easter morning > wrangling handfuls of Easter grass! This empty nest thing isn’t so bad after all.
Each season of life brings its unique joys. Whatever season of life you are in this Easter, treasure the moments.
Wishing each of you a joyful Resurrection Sunday! He is Risen! He is Risen Indeed!
Times are definitely changing kelly! This year I put some different things in Rachel’s “basket” like biscotti to go with her coffee and nutritious smoothies…but she still requested her chocolate bunny and peeps. So they grow up a little but still have that little kid in them too. And that makes it easier on us.
The girls were definitely torn about being away for Easter and were happy to get their Easter care packages. Traditions definitely provide a safety net as they spread their wings!!