easter bunny

I just looked back at some of the titles of my recent posts. "Sunshine." "Happiness is a fluffy bunny." "The pink happiness." Lucky me. Those all sound pretty swell. So to tie in the whole bunny, happiness theme, I'll continue on my cheerful note. Easter was super. I had pretty high expectations and had kind of built the whole holiday up in my mind the way a seven year old builds up her birthday party, only to be totally distraught when the guests arrive because things aren't just so. I sorta had that moment when Eliana wouldn't go down for a nap and yammered away with her baby for three hours while I got increasingly more anxious that she would ruin my party by not sleeping. My handsome hubby even went as far as to call our amigos and tell them to come an hour later, us hoping that she would eventually go down.
My theory is that I talked too much about the Easter bunny coming and her buddies coming and us finding all the eggies in the yard. She knew I was excited, so she was too.
Anyway, as always, she was fine. She even managed to stay in her Harriet Tuban-esque hat that matches the purple corduroy dress that I found in a recent hand me down bag.
Gotta love the giveaways. The hat was a hoot. She's a hoot. Not only did Els have her first egg hunt, Homegirl had her first jelly bean, first m and m and first disgustingly sugary, "Peep." What kinda nut invented the Peep? Freaky stuff. It's like she totally knew before she even tasted any of that stuff that she had to love it. I've never seen her consume anything so quickly.

The day was lovely and warm and I actually managed to show some leg and not freeze to death. I am so tired of wearing jeans! We also finally buried Eliana's placenta (my placenta? the placenta?) that has been getting lots of freezer burn over the past twenty months. Burying the placenta somehow seemed like an Easter-y thing to do. You know, instead of going to church. We planted another lilac tree on top of that heavy, icy, red mess of amazingness. Eliana dumped dirt on top of what looked like a big, frozen, rump roast.

Sometimes you can over think a ceremony. Or anything, for that matter. I had these grand visions of us trekking up Mount Jumbo, Jeff carrying Eliana on his back, a shovel in his hands, me gingerly gripping the red, biohazard bag. We would put the placenta under the sacred tree. I would read a poem or light a candle, the sun setting behind us.

But after she turned one, it turned more into an afterthought. I would remember the plaenta when I would dig around our big basement freezer looking for a perfect cut of meat or some frozen kale. In any event, going with Eliana to my favorite nursery on the day before Easter and picking out a lilac while Eliana ran from tree to tree was just perfect. She got all warm and fuzzy with the tree in the backseat of the Honda and even managed to eat a few lilac buds. Sometimes ceremony takes its own path.

And that's the lesson about Easter too. There was so much build up because I was finally in charge of my own holiday. I wanted it to be perfect. Having a homegirl in crime who was even more excited about Easter than I was, got me even more jazzed. Casey insisted on being in charge of baskets which meant they were totally fabulous and included a beauteous, reversable, hand crafted and embroidered skirt for Eliana made from my old, favorite Guatemalen hippie dress. And she emobroidered the "M" for our town and the lovely mountain it sits on on the other side. Too much. She really has more craftiness in her pinky than I do in my whole being. Lucky for me, I have her!

And the dinner was excellent, the lamb just right. As always, the things you can count on going right, the things that are more after thoughts, are sometimes the best part. Like Moanie asking to go in the tub with, "Elalala" and the way they made each other giggle in the warm water. And, alas, the kiss. Always the kiss to mark another perfect moment in our lives.

Happy Spring. Here's to no expectations and lots of unexpected bursts of sunshine.