We started the day at 8:30 mass. For non-parents or bionic people, this is probably no big deal but getting our girls dressed and out the door by 8:00 to get seats up front constitutes an Easter miracle for us. Its never happened before and is unlikely to ever happen again!
The girls were actually pretty much the cutest things around on Easter morning. Mark and I, however, were a bit on the bedraggled side. I had started cooking the night before in preparation for our Easter brunch and managed to drop one entre smack dab on top of the other as I was pulling them out of the oven. After salvaging what I could, I wound up making a whole other dish to compensate for my clumsiness. That took until about 1:00 am. 1:30-3:30 was spent entertaining a wide-awake Mimi in our bed while she pretended to cuddle and we pretended to sleep. The three hours of sleep we did finally manage to score were all but useless when the morning rolled around. Mimi was somehow fresh as a daisy. Julia, with a full 11 hours of sleep, was downright chipper. Parental crankiness aside, mass went very well. The girls were so sweet that total strangers asked to take their picture in front of the lilies on the altar. No kidding! An added bonus to attending service at 8:30 is that another mass follows (the one we usually attend) so Father had to wrap things up in a timely manner. Not that I'm so much of a clock watcher but, hey, let's face it toddlers can only hang in there for so long. Mark says he likes to sit up front so the girls can see the choir and he can tap on his watch when Father looks our way after an hour is up.
The brunch was great fun. The house managed to be clean, the food was somehow edible and there was plenty of coffee to keep us going. Also, we benefitted from a second Easter miracle: the day that was predicted to be frought with thunderstorms and pelting rain turned out to be sunny and warm. We were able to have our Easter egg hunt outside, thus saving Mark from trying to figure out how to hide eggs in the furnace in the basement. Our party was supposed to last for 2 hours but our guests were still hanging out 8 hours later. Adding to the fun was a traipse over to our neighbor's party mid-way through to join forces...they had more wine than we did. Our party was a dainty brunch; theirs was a ham dinner. Chardonnay & sparkling wine here, every red variety imaginable over there...a third Easter miracle?
Later on back at our house with our friends, full of wine and comfortable from a relaxing afternoon in the sun, we found something to feed the kids for dinner and chatted on into the evening. It was a truly lovely day.
1 comment:
Well, Kristine I think I understand why total strangers wanted to take the girls' picture. How cute are they in their Easter dresses! Absolutely stunning! You will have your work cut out for you when you have young men beating a path to your door. I will be praying for you and Mark. My friend (who has 3 girls) said that when young men start coming to his house to ask his daughter's out, he plans to buy a rifle and clean it in their presence, just to keep them honest.
Glad things went well after your preparations went awry. Tell the Pritchards "hello" for me! Wish I could join you for another glass of wine over some fabulous spaghetti!
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