Tuesday, March 18, 2008

10 Things I LOVE about Spring/Easter
(your Random Tuesday post for today)


I hope all of you are having a wonderful week so far!! We are having a FANTASTIC Spring Break (yesterday, we Easter-shopped with my Mom; went out to eat with my bestest best friend, Angela; shopped at Barnes & Noble; had smoothies; laughed and laughed and laughed!!), and I know it's only gonna get better and better!

To involve all of you with my blog today, how about a Random Tuesday post-and-share?

I absolutely LOVE this time of year. The beginning of Spring has got to be the nicest time of year weather-wise, and there are all sorts of wonderful celebrations going on. So, for your consideration this morning, I give you my...

Ten Things I Love about Spring and Easter (since Easter IS so early this year!)...

1. The appearance of my yard's first iris and Spiderworts blooms. I know that Spring is here when my irises pop up (it's always a battle between my purple and yellow ones for which one will pop its head out first!), and when my spiderworts peek their purple blooms out (this is my FAVORITE flower in my yard, because they came from my late great-grandmother's garden in Texas!).


2. Celebrating the birthdays of two of my favorite three girls in the whole wide world! McKenna's birthday is March 30th, and Sydney's is March 31st. Needless to say, we celebrate A LOT at the end of the month (and this year, McKenna turns 16 so you know it will be BIG!).

3. Holy Week stuff. Although I have very fond memories of the church I grew up in, one thing we didn’t do was celebrate Holy Week. My church now, though, has a rich tradition of celebrating Maundy Thursday and Good Friday (and Ash Wednesday earlier on in the Lent season). This week we are having Holy Week lunch services (in fact, we just returned from an awesome service and lunch!). As a Christian, Easter is the most important holiday of the year to me, so I really enjoy celebrating the “holiness” of it all.

4. Easter dresses! My mother started the tradition several years ago of taking the girls shopping and buying all of them a new Easter dress, and it's something we look forward to every year! As the girls get older, it becomes a little more difficult to find that "perfect" dress (you can't just find them something "frilly" that they'll wear without much argument); the girls all have very specific opinions about fashion, so you feel really good when everyone comes home with something cute! (And then every Easter morning, Gary takes a picture of me with the three girls all dressed up. I treasure those pictures I have from each year!)

5. Speaking of Easter, who doesn’t just LOVE to watch your kids hunt for Easter eggs? I love the entire tradition of dressing up in pretty dresses, going to our parents’ houses, and hunting for Easter eggs. And, yes, they ALL hunt for eggs; even when you’re almost 16, you enjoy it!!

6. That delicious Easter meal! This year, we will have a steak grill-out at my parents' house, and then we will have a more "traditional" Easter meal (ham, potatoes, etc.) at my in-laws. Food is one of the greatest joys in life, and Easter provides us with one of the best meals of the year! (My mouth is sorta salivating right now just thinking about it!)

7. March Madness!!

All of you know how CRAZY I am about sports, and there are lot of times of the year that I love when it comes to sports (for example: that first Saturday of the college football season).

But there's nothing that can compare to the NCAA basketball tournament. I love filling in my tournament brackets, cheering for some underdogs, and seeing so many fantastic games pretty much non-stop for weeks (and there are always some amazing finishes). I can't wait for it all to start on Thursday!

8. Getting to enjoy Spring Break! Some years we actually have managed to get away to the beach, but we usually just spend the week taking a break from all of the "regularly-scheduled" activities. This week is no different! Sleeping a little late, having friends over, going shopping, taking a day trip, playing outside ... it's all good!

9. Cadbury Easter eggs and mini Cadbury robin’s eggs

(and, yeah, you can throw in some Peeps for good measure!). If the Easter Bunny wants to make my day, he puts some of these in my Easter basket! (And, yes, the Easter Bunny does still leave me an Easter basket. Gary always puts together a great basket for me. Isn't that sweet? In fact, that fact right there could be a whole other "favorite thing" for this list!)

10. The joy of Easter morning. We get up for a special sunrise service, then later attend a usually-packed morning service. It is always a joyful experience, as we remind ourselves yet again of the greatest gift we've ever been given...an unimaginable gift of love and service and sacrifice and grace. (I pray that you will take the time to consider this amazing gift during this week!)


So...that's my challenge for you today.

What are your favorite things about Easter? or What are your favorite things about Spring? (One thing...or two... or ten... or whatever!) Post in my comments, or make your own blog entry about them! I'd love to know what YOU love!!!

26 comments:

Linda said...

Love your 10 things. I love spring, love the coming in of all the gorgeous flowers, love the warm afternoon, especially when I get to go for a hike, love that Easter meal too... we always gotta talk food huh?! I love the feel in the air like something remarkable is about to unfold. KWIM. Thanks for a wonderful post.

Adrienne said...

I love everything about spring EXCEPT the weather!!! I hate tornado weather!!! LOL

Anonymous said...

I love those things too. Mmm, those chocolate eggs look yummy. Great post.

Trish said...

I love spring too, and love your list! Happy Easter!

Jeff said...

hmmm... this is hard because i do link winter so, and we've been cheated on winter here this year. only one real day of decent snowfall. let's see how far i can get with this

1) peanut butter easter eggs
2) able to start sleeping with the windows open again to let the crisp air in
3) slightly more daylight (glad it's not dark at 5)
4) able to start going for walks along the river without freezing to death
5) flowers start to bloom
6) the fish in the koi pond near by start to get active again

i think that's about as far as I can go...

Happy Easter week!!!

Cheryl Wray said...

Linda--Why do I ALWAYS talk about food?? ha ha!!!

Adrienne--You are right about that!!

Gin--I LOVE those chocolate eggs. Gotta go get me some now! :-)

Trish--Happy Easter to you too!

Jeff--Why didn't I include the longer days on my list of favorite things? That's got to be just about the BEST thing about this time of year!!

Auburn Kat said...

When I was growing up, I HATED wearing dresses!!! I would beg my mom so I wouldn't have to wear one...especially for Easter!

Unknown said...

Great list Cheryl!

Everyone knows how excited I am that Spring is arriving! LOL It's all I have been talking about!

But, I'm with Adrienne when it comes to those stinkin' tornadoes! I could live without those. Seems that every year they have been getting closer and closer to home! A couple of years ago we had one not even a mile from our house. SCARY!

I am enjoying some Reeses Peanut Butter Eggs! Now I just need some SweetTart Jelly Beans.

Andy said...

love your list.
blooming flowers
pretty dressed
easter candy(the chocolate eggs you mentioned are some of my fave, as well as peeps(i like to put mine in the fridge))
salvation

Cheryl Wray said...

Kat--ha ha!! I'm lucky that I have girls who do like to dress up for Easter. Now, the rest of the time they (other than Sydney, who would wear dresses ALL the time!!!) are very casual and usually wear pants to church!!!

Kathy--Mmmm, peanut butter eggs!!

Andy--Okay, I have NEVER put Peeps in the fridge. But I am SO doing that this year!!

Anonymous said...

Great post (and photos)!

There's so much I love about this time of year. Mostly, though, it's that my parents come for a visit -- it's a tradition that Mom started about eight years ago. It makes all the other great stuff -- the plum blossoms, the sun, Easter hunts, shorts, photo ops, etc. -- seem that much better!

Gretchen said...

Wow, what a lovely post, Cheryl! Joy pervades every sentence. You have some awesome traditions. I think my favorite thing about Easter is that it has become so very precious to me over the last 7 years since my recommitment to Christ. We are starting traditions that I never grew up with and adding to those I did have as growing up. This year, we are having our big meal (brunch) on Saturday, followed by an egg hunt. We're doing this because the actual day of Easter gets so busy when you sing in the choir for both services and have to cram baskets and all that other stuff in, too. As you say, it's all good, but exhausting, too. I'm learning a love of Passion Week and the gospel that I never truly had before. It's awesome. Have a great week.

Happy Easter. xxxooogretchen

Monogram Queen said...

I love many of the same things you do (big surprise there huh? LOL)
I love the tradition of the Easter dresses and the picture by Gary. Can't wait to see it.

Anonymous said...

Love this post, Cheryl. I love that you enjoy thing so much!

Adriann said...

Great list of favorite spring things. I love the flowers, the weather, the birds, my mood, the renewal of life, the...

I could go on. Spring and Fall are my two favorite times of year.

BTW-- Love your flowers!

Brown English Muffin said...

i"m addicted to Cadbury Easter eggs...and I just started back on weight watchers and was too excited to learn I could have 12 of those delightful things for only 4 points!!!

Second Act said...

Great post! We will be at church Thursday night!
We have got to compare our basketball brackets. You know I won last year! It was great beating out over 100 people! I love March Madness!

Linda said...

cheryl, check out my blog.

Marjolein said...

I love Spring!!!!!! Can't wait till it's here actually, I really want to see grass instead of snow... Why..... do you have all those lovely flowers posted??? Don't you ever get snow? So not fair!!!:-)))

Sorry I haven't been around lately, promise to better my life!

Katrin said...

Really love this list and the pretty pictures of the flowers...

What I like?
lilac blossom
street cafés
chocolate easter bunnies
home-made easter bread
a three-day weekend

I'm sure there's more, but I am in a "female" mood. :(

Mississippi Songbird said...

Oh, I love spring and I love Easter. i'll post my list too. Have a wonderful Easter week. God Bless you and your family!

Dawn Bibbs said...

Great post Cheryl. There are a few things I love about Spring/The Easter season. Here are a few:

~The Holiness of the Easter Season
~Flowers
~Soccer season, although Spring tends to bring lots of rain which makes for soppy fields.
~Miniature candy bars :-)
~Lifesaver pastel fruit mix (I'm sure this isn't the real name of them. But they ARE pastel colored. And they ARE fruit flavored)
~Kids laughing and screaming for joy due to the sweet treasures they find.
~Pretty dresses.
~The Easter Sunday sunrise. We don't normally go to a sunrise service. But for some reason, the sunrise is more beautiful on Easter Sunday.

That's all that come to mind right now.

That was fun! Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Be sure to bring your smile...pictures WILL be taken :-).

Edleen said...

love those flower shots!!! Beautiful colours of nature!

i have to Love Easter (even though we don't celebrate) because my 1st Baby was born on Easter Sunday :) we just love having those egg chocolates! hehe...

have a Lovely Thursday Cheryl!

Phats said...

My favorite thing can be summed up with 3 things

WARMER WEATHER
MARCH MADNESS
PEEPS!!!!!!

Brackets are up, best of luck. i think gary's goal is to beat you

Heather Landry said...

I love all of the same things about Spring! Especially the flowers and the Easter dresses. Only I don't like basketball. I know... You're going to yell at me for that. LOL

Anonymous said...

1.its not cold anymore
2.flowers bloom
3.church services for easter
4.shopping for easter dresses
5.easter egg hunts
6.going over to relatives homes
7.birthdays-mckennas and sydneys
8.candy at easter
9 and 10.i do not know