Easter-Gram

Received an Easter-Gram from the Western Kingdom today.  Do these legged-eggs remind you of anyone?

Onward Easter Soldiers

Image Source.

Easter Artistry

Stately Rooster

Image Source.

Anticipation starts building now

First, it's only 32 more days till PWIW Holidays is projected to enter the world. Mrs. Holidays and I are getting excited to meet him! We've only got a few more little things to buy in preparation for his arrival.

Second, it's only one more month till Easter decorating begins! Toward the end of next week, Grandma Holidays plans on putting out her Easter door sign, and I plan on stringing together some of the 197 plastic eggs which will be hung in Mother-in-Law Holidays' front yard.

Easter Rooster

One of my favorites from the stash of Easter postcards.

Easter Carriage

Image Source.

Easter Postcards

Mother-in-Law Holidays graciously let me sift through her box of old holiday postcards. I found 39 for Easter. A neat bit of history.

Easter Cart

Image Source

Easter Stash

197 plastic eggs and 7 glass jars. Will likely add a few more jars over the next 5 weeks.

Special delivery

Image source.

Easter Egg Pull

Image Source

Eggs in a basket

Image source

Shades of Easter

Courtesy of eatonvillenews.net

Happy Valentine's Day!

I received word that Mother-in-Law Holidays dropped by and slipped a Valentine's day card under Grandmother Holidays' door. That will be a nice surprise.

Happy Valentine's Day to all! 40 days till Easter decorating starts.

Home Goods surgical strike

Yesterday, Grandmother Holidays and I visited a couple of stores in search of Easter decorations. First, we visited Home Goods, which had a treasure trove of Easter goodies. I bought a beautiful egg wreath (pictured) that I will incorporate in our outdoor display. Grandmother Holidays spotted a pink, glittery Easter door sign but couldn't quite pull the trigger. I told her that we could always come back after visiting Michaels.

We then drove over to Michaels, but there was nothing new. A few weeks ago, I had spotted a potential door sign for her but held off so that she could decide for herself. This time, with her present, I pointed her to the various signs, and without any prompting at all, she was drawn to the same sign. After closely analyzing it, she asked what I thought. I asked her if she preferred this one or the Home Goods sign. After further contemplation, she decided on the Home Goods sign, so we drove back and bought it. I will take a picture when she hangs it on her door after Valentine's Day.

All in all, we had a fun time together, and I could sense that her anticipation is growing for the Easter holiday.

It's the countdown, not the date, that counts

Today, I happened to come across a ticker that showed 56 days until Easter. It inspired me to do a little further research, in which I discovered that there are 262 days till Halloween and 317 days till Christmas.

But, in my opinion, it's not the actual date of these holidays that matters the most. No, it's the countdown, the anticipation to the actual date that represents the real magic of these special days. Case in point, as you can see at the top of the blog, my countdown ticker shows how much time remains until Easter decorating begins, not until Easter day itself.

To be clear, I do not do this to any way denigrate or minimize the religious gravity of the holiday, or should I say Holy Day. I myself believe in Easter's profound historical and theological claim, and I will be attending multiple Lenten services. I only focus on the anticipatory countdown from the more innocuous, children-focused perspective.

As I wrote in a previous post, CFO Holidays has allotted me a maximum of two weeks to decorate a portion of her front yard for Easter. That means, I can begin on March 25 (PWIW Holidays is due March 28). For those two weeks, the "Magic of Easter" will descend upon CFO Holidays' local community, and the decorative climax will take place on Easter Eve, when the basket is placed under the tree and the luminaries are lit. Easter Sunday will be a day to just take it all in with family.

Looking ahead, the pattern for Halloween and Christmas will be the same. Once Easter is over, I will post a new countdown ticker, one that will count the number of days till September 30. This is the day I traditionally begin decorating CFO Holidays' front yard for Halloween in honor of my late Mother.

Then, after Halloween, I'll post a new countdown ticker for some time in December. I have not selected a specific date yet, as I have to negotiate with CFO Holidays. Poor thing's just barely getting adjusted to the whole idea of Easter decorations. In fact, she won't even allow us to mention the word "---ter" in her presence. She's a true holiday grinch....a benevolent holiday grinch, that is :)

Ironically, on Halloween Day and Christmas Day, I always feel a tinge of sadness. All the planning, all the organizing, all the working, and all the fun is over in just one day. Then, you have a whole year to wait. This is one of the main reasons I pushed CFO Holidays to allow me to decorate her cherry tree & surrounding area for Easter. It's just too long of a wait between Halloweens. A serious holiday decorator needs at least one intermediate step to satiate his/her insane passion. Plus, I wanted to start a new tradition in preparation for PWIW Holidays. He needs 3 holidays to really look forward to, not just 2.

I can't wait to explain the principle behind the countdown ticker to Toddler Holidays...

93 eggs and Cadbury cream eggs

Yesterday, Mrs. Holidays, PWIW Holidays, Mother-in-Law Holidays, and I went to a local Goodwill store. It was a fantastic shop, filled with books, clothes, videos, and even a little bit of Easter decor. After perusing the Easter decorations, I decided on 52 multi-colored plastic eggs, which Mother-in-Law Holidays, aka CFO Holidays, kindly bought on my behalf. So now, I'm up to 93 eggs and on the march toward at least 100 for the Egg Tree.

Upon arriving back at the CFO's house, I was pleased to see 4 Cadbury Creme Eggs waiting on the kitchen table for me. The question is, 'Who put them there'? A topic for an upcoming post.

Dwarf rabbit herds sheep

Mrs. Holidays found this funny little story & video of Champis, a dwarf rabbit, who has a penchant for chasing sheep. The Easter Bunny would be proud.

Click here for the story.

Trip to Michaels and a new Valentine's Day decoration sighting

Mrs. Holidays, PWIW Holidays, and I stopped by Michaels to see if any new Easter decorations had arrived. There were a few, new knick-knacks. Two bundles of plastic eggs wrapped in netting caught my eye in particular. I may buy them, but I or Mother-in-Law Holidays will check back with the Goodwill store first, where she purchased 39 plastic eggs at a great price a few weeks ago. Either way, I'm planning to scatter a bunch of plastic eggs underneath the Egg Tree and surrounding bushes when the time comes.

Also, last night, while I was doing my usual 45 minute walk in the neighborhood, I noticed another house with Valentine's Day decorations. This house had a big heart wreath hanging on its front door. Seems like I'm seeing more Valentine's Day decorations out this year. Perhaps it's a promising sign for Easter.