Easter ramblings

Today is Easter Sunday. I know it means a lot of different things to different people. I'm not here to debate that, just to talk about my own plans and such.

As a kid, Easter meant baskets filled with candies, and searching for colorful eggs that the Easter Rabbit had hidden in the house. I'm not sure I ever questioned why he did such a thing, I just looked for them. I'm not even sure I ate them, but my competitive nature made me try to find 'em all. As I got older, I got let into the mystique of the dying of the Easter eggs, a tradition which I carried on when my kids were little. Times changed, too, and then Easter baskets began to contain more than candy - they had toys too. I guess some kids got Easter clothes too, but we didn't go to church so that never factored in.

Now my youngest child is 20, so all of that is over. No more Easter baskets or Easter eggs. Now we're left with - Easter dinner!  Not so bad, eh? I like to cook, they like to eat. Sounds reasonable to me. So today I'm going to cook a big dinner. Sarah's dad is coming over. The others are scattered - Chris in Columbia (at college and working so he can't come home), Michael in Hawaii and Katie in Indiana.

I got a ham, of course. It's pretty traditional, and we like ham. I got about a 9 pound bone-in ham at Savealot for $1.19 a pound, which is a good price. The other stores were asking around $1.89-$1.99 a pound for bone-in, and whole hams at that, which I didn't need. I'm going to try a new glaze this year - I'm glazing it with Coke. I'll let you know how that works out for me. Instead of a mac and cheese side dish, I'm making a tater tot casserole with cheddar cheese and bacon.  Here is the recipe:
http://www.meninaprons.net/archives/2007/05/bacon_cheddar_tater_tot_casser.html

Also, I am trying a carrot salad -

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/Carrot-Salad?pmcode=ILDDC03S&_mid=1574532&_rid=1574532.781200.84533

It sounded good, I hope it tastes good too.  Plus I'm making a chocolate mint cheesecake. I have to go out today, unfortunately, as I realized I misread the recipe and I'm short some of the candy.  Which means I have little choice as to where to get it. Walgreens here I come.
  http://www.food.com/recipe/andes-candies-chocolate-mint-cheesecake-101492  No picture, but Sarah likes mint, even if I don't, so she should be happy.


Other than cooking, I hope to get some writing done, especially on my ongoing series Captivations. Plus I have some guest blog stuff to do too. I've not been writing much since my fall the other night, but I hope to get back into it today.  We'll probably watch more DaVinci's inquest later. Or maybe Chaplin, which I got from the library too.

Today would be a good day to watch a Jesus movie, if I'd thought ahead to get one, but I didn't. King of Kings would have been good. Jesus of Nazareth too, but it's long, six hours. Jesus with Jeremy Sisto, which is 3 hours. All good movies. I haven't seen King of King in years, though, my library doesn't own it. I hope to buy it someday.

However you choose to celebrate the day or not celebrate it, I wish you all a wonderful day.With or without family. Family doesn't have to be blood, you know, it's what's in your heart, not what's in your genes that counts. My family chooses to do without me - their choice.I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, because what is is. I'm sorry that my oldest daughter seems to be among that number. Again, her choice. I don't believe that just because you share blood means you have to share your life. It doesn't always work that way.

I'd love to hear about your plans, your thoughts, how you will spend your day!

Happy Easter!

♥  Julie