First Easter

This was our first Easter without Mom, and I wanted it to be a little different from previous Easter dinners. I invited Aunt Mavis over, so it was just the three of us: Aunt Mavis, Dad, and me.

I was not going to do like Mom did in the past and stress myself out over making a huge dinner. I refused to get up early in the morning and spend hours in the kitchen preparing food. I still don't know what took her so long to make certain things because I was able to have dinner ready in less than an hour. Honestly, I think Mom piddled in the kitchen more than anything else. The only thing I needed to do ahead of time was the ham. Once it was in the oven, everything else could be done 30 minutes before serving. I decided the menu would be honey-glazed ham, garlic mashed potatoes (I added some dehydrated garlic and red bell pepper stir fry seasoning) with gravy, and green bean casserole (yes, the kind with cream of mushroom soup and those crunchy french fried onions as the topping). I forgot to bake biscuits, but I don't think anyone really missed them.

Just for the heck of it, I secretly bought two baskets, two small bags with plastic hollow camouflage eggs (8 green and 8 pink), and two bags of chocolate football-shaped candy. I filled the eggs with the chocolate, then put the eggs in the baskets. Poor Dad. He felt so bad that he didn't get me anything for Easter. I told him that having dinner with him was gift enough.


It was nice, but a little weird. Not once was Mom brought up in conversation. I'm not sure why.

Meanwhile, I've got a lot of leftover ham that needs something to be done with. Time to break out the vacuum sealer.

One more note: today is a good friend's birthday. I haven't been able to contact her for quite some time, but she is still on my mind. I hope she is reading this, is doing well, and knows that I remembered her birthday.