Easter Decorations

On Monday night I finally got out our Easter decorations. Pulling out the decorations has been one of the many difficult things about each holiday. It’s hard to know whether they will conjure memories that will be sweet or painful. Usually, they are a little of both.

For Easter, the signs of Emma are in two hand-decorated blown eggs that were stored amongst our decorations. One of the blown eggs was decorated for Emma by her Aunt Joycie. It was made for Easter 2000 when Emma was 7, going on 8. It captured her milestones from the last year: her appearance as Dorothy in her Music for Children class’s production of The Wizard of Oz; her love of bike riding, a skill she had learned relatively late because of her fear of falling, but now embraced enthusiastically; and her love of the children’s book series called The Boxcar Children. Joycie had decorated another blown egg for Emma marking an earlier year, but the year before last, that egg rolled off our dining room table and broke. We were all quite heartbroken, both because we knew how much work had gone into it, and because it was such a special reminder of the events of that year.

The second blown egg was decorated by Emma herself in the style of her Aunt Joycie, whose artistic talent she greatly admired. I don’t remember exactly when she made this egg, but it wasn’t that long ago. The egg has a line drawing of the Easter Bunny and a note addressed to him. The note goes like this:

Dear Rabbit of Easter,

Enjoy the crunchy orange sticks. We hope you enjoy them and that you have a safe and happy Easter. Your cousin in our basement says hi, and he advises you to stay clear of loud buses on wheels. Again, Happy Easter. Love, the von Eulers

I think that some of the things in that note require some context. The phrase “Rabbit of Easter” is borrowed from a David Sedaris short story called Jesus Shaves. It is a hilarious story and a family favorite. You must read it or, better yet, listen to David Sedaris read it. The "crunchy orange sticks" line is a reference to carrots, of course. Each year the girls would leave carrots out for the Easter Bunny with a note. One time the bunny wrote back and thanked the girls for the crunchy orange sticks which, he said, he found delicious. The line about “your cousin in our basement” is a reference to our bunny, Thumpernickel. I have no idea where the line about the bus came from. I’m guessing it was an inside joke that I got at the time, but not anymore.

Looking back at what I’ve written, I’m struck by how much those two little eggs tell about Emma and our family. I’m going to make sure I wrap them up and store them very, very carefully when Easter is over. When I first pulled them out, they were painful reminders of everything I've lost. But now, after writing this entry,  I have a smile on my face, because I realize that they are also joyful reminders of everything we shared. 

To listen to David Sedaris reading Jesus Shaves, click here