Easter.

If we were in Britain, I almost wouldn't be late putting up an Easter post, since they celebrate "Easter Monday," and possibly even "Easter Tuesday" in some places . . . ?  It's hard to believe that it was five full years ago since my brother and I spent Easter in Northern Ireland.  Ah, sweet memories.  :)

Our church doesn't pay too much attention to the holiday--no cantatas or anything out of the ordinary, but we don't do special music, anyway.  When I was growing up, we learned that the day had pagan origins which the Catholic church basically Christianized.  But we aren't commanded to celebrate it in the Bible.  We do celebrate Christ's resurrection every Lord's Day, since it was His rising from the dead on the first day of the week which marked the changing of when the early church met together and observed the Sabbath.  Still, this Sunday our pastor took the opportunity to preach on Jesus' resurrection and we also sang some hymns about the resurrection.  And, of course, lots of little girls wore pretty new dresses.  :)

So, I have to confess that I bought Gemma a hat.  It was only a dollar at Target, and she loved it.  :)  (I think she loved her little berry/applesauce snack just as much!)  And doesn't she look darling in her special sweater?  Our friend Mrs. K made it.  

There must be something about becoming a mom that makes me want to pay more attention to conventional holidays.  We even had a little Easter basket which I put out on Saturday.  But we won't be telling Gemma stories about the Easter bunny or anything like that.  I don't believe in lying to my children . . .

It was a beautiful, beautiful day!  It's fun living in a climate where it's actually warm enough to wear spring dresses on Easter.  :)  We had a family from church over that afternoon and ate our ham dinner outside on the patio.  The kids loved the pond as much as Gemma does.  She loves looking for the ducks and geese which are usually about lately!

Well, Happy Easter Tuesday!