Easter Day

At least the 4+ inches of snow on the ground was today, not yesterday or Wednesday!  It would've made outdoor Easter nests and egg hunting a bit of a mess.  In fact, I can't even see where our Easter nests are today because of the thick snow.

We had a good Easter, celebrating with family on the actual day for a change.  Usually, Ma, Gong, and Goo come for Saturday egg dyeing, but this year we celebrated on Easter.  So the kids and I dyed eggs ourselves on Saturday, just basic Paas, accented with Sharpies.  And to do that, I had to teach the kids how to boil an egg first:

For Hardboiled Eggs to Dye
1.  Fill big pot with cold water.
2.  Gently place eggs in pot.
3.  Bring to a boil.
4.  When boiling, turn off pot and cover.
5.  Let stand 15 minutes.
6.  Gently drain and rinse in cold water.
7.  Decorate as desired.

Funny what you have to remember to teach them.

We did make Easter nests outside, a family tradition from my mom's German side, as I understand it.  We even had a few crocuses and snow drops for decorations, plus a little bouquet of spring flowers I'd bought.  But no grass.  We just use cuttings from our boxwood bushes and our spruce tree.  That's the only green right now.

And then we watched some of Ten Commandments, the spectacle of which I love.  I had a real thing for sword-and-sandal films as a kid; so we'd watched some of Spartacus recently too--the kids were surprised that wasn't Heston, too!  Funny to relate Kirk Douglas to the kids--that's the dad of the man who played Hank Pym in Ant Man.  Ahh, they said.  Like I used to know Debbie Reynolds only as the mom of Princess Leia.

Sunday morning started early as holidays always do.  We did the egg hunt in the house and the basket "opening" on the porch (gifts don't go in the yard nests because of New England weather.)  Candy, lots of candy.  Mama and Sis had made a bakery run the day before so we had croissants and cinnamon buns and Queen Aman pastries.

Family arrived mid-morning and the outdoor egg hunt commenced.  Mercy, I love the egg hunt.  Hiding the eggs is my favorite holiday prep all year; and this year, I actually told the kids this.  They get it--they had a ton of fun hiding eggs for Goo and watching him search, just like I do.  They found them all, I think, save one "real" one--I'm guessing that was our gift to a raccoon!

We're still without an oven, but Mama and Sis made their famous Chicken Marsala, which was a big hit.  Yum!

Otherwise, we sat around, the kids playing video games with Goo while Mama and her folks discussed the minutiae of packing and international travel; a 9 hour flight for a 10 day stay is nothing compared to 24 hours to Thailand to stay for months.

And then when everyone had left, we watched Jesus Christ Superstar Live.  And we loved it!  I thought it was a great staging and performance, especially with all those Broadway stars.  The casting took a page from Hamilton, the choreography too.  And there were hints of Rent all around.  Or, those were all inspired by the 1970 original Broadway show. (And I couldn't help but think of the AME church during the JCS song sung by Judas at the end.) The music held up in a way that some of ALW's shows don't (I'm looking at you, Whistle Down the Wind.) I'm even watching it again this morning, enjoying the singing of John Legend, Brandon Victor Dixon, Sara Bareilles, Norm Lewis, and more.  The kids even met Norm Lewis, "our" Phantom, four years ago at the stage door--he fist-bumped Bud and chatted to them both for awhile.

Now it's still snowing, but school wasn't called.  And I'm not at hospice because of a routine doctor's appointment.  So I'm enjoying this April snow.  Happy spring!