You Grew Up and Celebrated Easter in South Texas If…

You grew up and celebrated Easter in South Texas if…

As a Child

*You wore plumbago blossoms as earrings while hunting for Easter eggs with your crazy cousins.

*You wore white patent leather shoes, white gloves, and a stiff little white hat with white ruffled socks and a new dress your mother made.

*You had a Toni home perm.

*You can still remember the smell of vinegar when you mixed it with the Easter egg dye.

*You knew it was about Jesus, but that was for grown-ups to worry about.

*You sat at the kids’ table at Mamaw’s house or Grandmother Mills’s house with those same crazy cousins and ate more than one helping if you wanted to.

*Deep down you wanted to find all of the Easter eggs first, but your crazy cousins were faster.

*You spent most of the day outside because your grandmothers, parent, aunts, and uncles all said:

“Ya’ll go on outside.”

***

As a Young Mother With Three Little Girls

*You didn’t make their dresses, but your mother did.

*You worked hard at putting their outfits and accessories together, and when it came time for church that morning, you remembered what your best friend from college said- when you asked her how long it took her to get ready with 4 kids?

Her answer:

“It depends on if I want to look good.”

*The Easter egg dye was permanently stained it seemed on your fingers and definitely on theirs.

*As a grown up ,you still wanted to sit at the kids’ table – with your husband-because your cousins really were crazy and fun and they still were, but you needed to help in the kitchen and help clean up.

*At the end of the day, after all of the dressing up and Easter egg hunting and the bows and the new shoes, and the reminders to your little girls to say ‘yes mam’ and ‘no mam” when asked questions by all of your relatives, you hoped and prayed they received the message about Jesus, but you knew there was more to learn.

***

As Is 2010

*You know, whether you are in town for church or not, that it isn’t ABOUT Jesus, it IS Jesus.

*Many of those relatives are gone and your cousins are scattered but traditions are traditions, and they are in your heart forever.

*That now, more often than a ham baking in the oven, it will probably be fajitas or steaks on the pit.

*In fact, you have come to admire the families of the Rio Grande Valley, who arrive at public parks early Sunday morning to get a picnic table and a BBQ pit to celebrate the glorious end to Semana Santa.

*That now God has graced you with little boys with sweaty heads and all of a sudden ruffles and bows seem silly.

*That you are blessed.