Well for starters, no candy bars. I don’t mean to sound like a candy snob but, come on, it’s Easter. There are all kinds of special Easter candies out there. You don’t have to resort to a Kit Kat. Not in my Easter basket. Thanks to my mom’s refined choices, no mediocre candy bar ever resided in my carrier of confections.
She created our Easter baskets with the skill of surgeon. Firstly, there was always a set of hollow milk chocolate figures. The nest, as it was called, generally consisted of a milk chocolate bunny or three and various Easter figurines, with perhaps, a little chocolate wheel-barrow or cart dotted with sugared candy décor. To add a pop of brightness, yellow marshmallow peeps were dropped in. Mom was only half way finished.
Handfuls of jelly beans were scattered around the cellophane Easter grass so little fingers could have yet another egg hunt, scooping them out from the bottom of the basket. Then, chocolate covered marshmallow eggs and bunnies joined the jelly beans along with a brightly colored hard-boiled decorated egg.
But the piece de’ resistance for me was always the peanut-rolled coconut cream Easter eggs. The mouth-watering scent of these confections permeated the parlor of our little row home on Easter morning, tempting, yes, practically calling, We’re here – Hop on over.
But there would be no hopping over to snitch a candy or two until after Mass. To me, it seemed, our Lenten deprivations weren’t really over until we burst in the door after church and grabbed those baskets.
Yes, it was a long time ago. Easter baskets have changed a tad over the years. But I wouldn’t change mine for all the Easter Eggs in China.
Have a Happy, and Blessed Easter Everyone!
Janice Monahan Rodgers 