Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Easter

March 29th, 2011: Easter is coming up so maybe I’ll write about how Easter was for me when I was a little girl. The thing that I remember and that I really loved about Easter was the new dress, shoes, gloves and hats that we got every year. My mother would sew them for us. She made such pretty dresses for us.

 There are two that I remember particularly. One was when we were living in K-Park housing in Camarillo, California. Mom had made a shirtwaist dress out of pretty white light material with red velvet poke-a-dots on it (The poke-a-dots were tiny). We had a red velvet sash around the waist. We had red velvet shoes, and white gloves and hats. They were so pretty. I just loved them. I have always loved to dress up in a dress even to this day.

The other dress that I remember was a dress that I sewed. After I was in Jr. High, I learned to sew myself. I made my own dresses after that. One of my first Easter dresses that I sewed was out of a simple cotton material with a plaid design of a soft pink and purple color. It came out so very nice and was very proud of it because I had done it myself. Everyone in the family had a dress out of the same material every year. Dad would have a tie made out the same material as well. We were quite the sight at church.

We would then come home and have an Easter Egg Hunt. They were the small chocolate Easter eggs. There would be so many eggs hidden everywhere. There were some that would be found clear into the year; because there were so many hidden and we could never find them all.

 Then in the afternoon or evening we would go to our grandma and grandpa Adams house to eat with them. Grandma would always have a grocery sack full of candy and goodies. We thrilled over it every year.

 As often as we moved, it didn’t matter, because our grandparents always moved along with us. Mom’s, mom just had to be where her daughter was. She was her only child. She had a boy first, but he was born without a face and was badly deformed. He died at birth. Mom also had another brother that was older then her. He died in his twenties (I believe) of Tuberculosis. Mom was born with a cleft pallet and had gone through many operations to be able to talk as well as she did. After mom, grandma never had any more children. She never wanted to be very far from her because of it.

 Our other grandparents (Dads parents), we never saw very much. They lived in San Diego, California. We did go to see them now and then. I remember a Christmas that we spent there. I remember waking up to so many wonderful smells in the kitchen. It seemed that they would be up cooking all night. I remember that was the only year that I received a doll that I actually liked. That was because it was almost my size and I could dress her up. I normally did not like dolls of any kind, but because it was so big, I liked this one.

The only thing that I remember about Grandpa was how he would rock me in a rocking chair while he smoked his pipe. That is the only picture I see of my grandfather Tholander in my mind. He died of lung cancer when I was very young. Grandmother also died of cancer of the lymph nodes.

We were eating our Sunday dinner in Camarillo, California, when we received a phone call from Dads family that Grandma was not doing well and none of them could take care of her. I remember we did not even finish dinner. We packed up a few clothes and left right then to drive to San Diego to pick her up and bring her to our home where we could take care of her. This was one of the few things that I remember about her. Amy and I went up stairs to show her our cat. We really wanted to do something nice for her, but the darn cat scratch grandma on her arm. Grandma was hurting so bad. We felt so very bad about what happened to her. What was supposed to be a good thing, turned out to be very horrible.

When I grew up and had a family of my own, we changed things a little. I had boys, so I did not make Easter clothes for them. We did have the Easter egg hunt though. We had so much fun at all the Easter Picnics that we have gone on with Grandma and Grandpa Mangum. Poor Patricia missed out as she was born the day after Grandpa Mangum Funeral. We still had picnics but they were not the same without Ralph there with us. She did not get the homemade Easter dresses either. We bought some till she was no longer interested in dresses of any kind. She was a tom boy being raised around five brothers. The one thing that our boys and Patricia have looked forward to is finding the money eggs. We would hide several candy eggs and just a few money eggs of all different amounts. But the dollar egg was the prize win. It always seemed that Willie would find so many of those dollar eggs.

One particular Picnic that we really enjoyed after Grandpa was gone was out to a sand wash out East of St. Johns. The kids and cousins would all slide down the sandy banks over and over again. We had our traditional Easter Egg Hunt out there as well. That was one of the most fun ones we had.

Our favorite Picnic spot of all times has been the Diversion Dam that is now owned by Carl Pew. The effort of getting the keys and permission has taken all the fun out of going out there. The road has changed as well.

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