storytime!

This was written by my mom, but I wanted to share it...

If you’ve joined the Butler family at Easter, you know that we are big fans of gathering together to celebrate. I’m positive the kids in our family would surely call Easter our family’s biggest tradition. We love gathering family and friends and having a big day of food, fun and fellowship.

This year, as I’m putting away the plastic eggs and continuing to clean colorful confetti out of the house and sidewalks, I find myself wanting to acknowledge the inspiration for this annual family holiday. Her name was Shirley Butler, my mother in law. Ed and I both have fond memories of family Easters as children; however, neither celebrated Easter as grandly as we do now. We wouldn’t miss it. I’ve often said that sometimes two plus two equals five . . . it’s momentum that often blossoms something normal into something much larger.

Granny’s first granddaughter, Lauren, was born on Thursday, March 31st. That year, in 1983, Lauren’s first full day on earth was Good Friday and we came home from the hospital just in time for Easter Sunday lunch. Thanks to a capable, loving husband and excited brand new father, who could then, and 26 years later still can enlist the troops, our first family Easter lunch came off as a big hit. Grandparents, aunts and uncles arrived that Easter morning to be on the “Welcome Home” and “Happy Easter” fun committee. Each Easter just grew from that big day forward in our lives.

Grandma Moore, Aunt Peggy, and Aunt Linda particularly jumped right in and helped us celebrate. The next year, Lauren was just old enough to venture out to the backyard and proclaim with each and every colorful egg: “UH OH!” - and now years later our family has another set of little girls to share the excitement.

My favorite moment of this Easter actually came the morning after the big egg hunt in our front yard. I was tipped off that the Easter bunny might have visited our mailbox and there might be something hidden there still. I ventured out with Olivia, the youngest of the great granddaughters, to investigate the mailbox. We pulled open the door together and both looked inside. Olivia looked at me with surprise on her face and reaching in she pulled out not one but two confetti eggs! Giving me one and keeping the other for herself, Olivia knew just what to do. She deliberately poked one of her tiny little fingers into the pastel tissue and turned the egg upside down. She and I left a thin trail of confetti all the way back up the driveway. And, I thought, mission accomplished. My family loves Easter just like this little girl’s great grandmother did. Shirley hadn’t been with us on Easter for eleven years now. She died in March 1999 just before Easter.

And now, instead of letting Easter take a back seat to other holidays, I cherish the tradition that my husband, Shirley’s youngest son, and she began.