Friday, April 2, 2010

Bunny Tales


The first Easter I remember was in first grade. We were transient, in a way, as Mother and we three girls followed Daddy from one oilfield to another in Texas. The five of us lived in a duplex made of three rooms lined up with a door between each one. I cannot remember where we all slept, or anything else about the rooms. But that Easter Sunday morning, Mother got us up and told us to look behind the door. There were two paper mache bunnies, standing on their hind legs, with a basket on their backs. The baskets held green “grass” and dyed eggs. I Googled “Paper Mache Bunnies” and found the exact one we received!

When I was seven, I think, Mother made us yellow satin dresses for Easter. They had ruffles around the hems, tiny buttons at the neck, and a big bow in the back. We drove 200 miles to our Grandparent’s house for Easter Sunday. While there, Mother got sick, and she hadn’t sewn the buttons on the dresses. So, Daddy took over and sewed on the buttons, dressed us, and tied our sashes in big pretty bows in the back, just in time for church.

In fourth grade, we had an Easter egg hunt on the school playground the last hour of the day. All of us brought our Easter baskets, and we sat in our wooden desks and listened to the instructions for the Easter egg hunt. The teacher said most of the eggs were alike, a few were chocolate wrapped in colored foil, and one special egg was wrapped in gold foil. The lucky person who found it also won a prize. So, off we go with our baskets. I spot the golden egg the same time a boy did. We raced for the egg. Just as he reached down for it, I kicked it away, then ran after it and picked it up. He became very angry and bawled like a baby.
My prize? Another Easter basket, filled with all kind of neat stuff.

Then came the special time when our own children hunted for Easter eggs. Our daughter was six and our son was three-and-a-half. Like any good mommy, I made sure they had pretty baskets with pink and green grass. I stayed up half the night to color and decorate eggs. As I dressed them for Sunday School, my husband went to the back yard and hid all the eggs. At the signal, the children rushed outside. Our daughter skipped around, finding every egg her daddy had hidden. Our son followed his sister, and when she picked up an egg, he squatted to look in the same place. All around the yard, she filled her basket, and he had none. He began to cry. His sister ran around, re-hid some of the eggs, and “helped” him find them. She was a good sister then, and she still is today.  


Celia Yeary
Romance…and a little bit o' Texas
TEXAS BLUE-eBook and Print
SHOWDOWN IN SOUTHFORK—eBook
ALL MY HOPES AND DREAMS-eBook and Print
Published by: The Wild Rose Press

5 comments:

  1. Celia,

    This brings back memories for me. One not so good. I think I was in fifth grade. The school grouped the entire elementary grades (it was a small school) on the walk before the Egg hunt. The coach yelled, "Ready, Set...Go!" All the kids took off. As luck would have it the boy behind me knocked me down, trampled me, and kept running. Needless to say, I ended up in first aid and didn't get to hunt eggs.

    I loved that tale where you kicked that egg and ran after it. I could see that boy bawling his head off. Shame on you! LOL.

    Great memories. Thanks for sharing. It's slow today. Guess people have family things planned. But since my son is in McAllen, Texas...

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  3. Hi Celia,

    What sweet memories. I remember going to my Grandma's house for Easter and hunting eggs with tons of cousins. LOL Love the paper mache bunny. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  4. Sounds to me like you had a great childhood and so did your kids too!

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