The "Happy Easter" Story

It was an ordinary day. As ordinary as Easter can be. Church and then start to prepare for the family. Daughter Brynn and husband Dave and granddaughters Courtney and Camille are heading up from Maryland. Bringing their dog Rocco with them. Didn't tell our cat until the last minute. Just enough time for him to hide all his play mice. Our oldest son Derek called at the last minute and said he needed to work a 12 hour shift on Saturday and Sunday and wasn't going to be here, but wife Barb and grandson Caden as well as Barb's sister Joy would be there. Other son Tad and my mom would also be here. We used to have a dining room table that would seat 10 with extensions, but it was Early American style and didn't look right in our house, so we gave it to our daughter. The one we replaced it with only seats 4. So, a few years ago I bought a 4'x8' piece of plywood and made a new top for it. Now it can seat 10 and with a card table at the one end, we're in business. Only takes about an hour to drag it down from the second floor, screw the legs to it and set it up. We do this every Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Gets old doing this every year. And the cost of the meal seems to get larger all the time. Easter morning and mom calls. Doesn't feel good and isn't coming. I told her to eat some toast and tea and I'll call later. My daughter calls her in an hour and tells her she is coming for her. She'll feel better with the kids running around. And she did! Easter baskets and egg hunt are always a big thing with the family. We had to hide 122 plastic eggs outside for the egg hunt. I'm not sure if they found all of them, but I will when I mow the next time. The making of the dinner is always a big job, but my wife has it down to a science after years and years and years of doing it. Ham, scalloped potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, baked vegetables, pineapple filling, applesauce, rolls and pumpkin bread is the usual menu. Banana split dessert tops off the meal. Then the hard part ...... cleaning up and doing the dishes. Good silver has to be hand washed. Good glassware has to be hand washed. Endless pots and pans have to be washed. Thank God for aluminium pans that we use to make some of the dishes. Throw them in the trash after the meal. Good place-settings can go in the dishwasher, but as soon as the dishwasher has finishing washing them, it must be opened to allow them to air dry. My daughter-in-law helps me with most of the chores. Then the egg hunt starts. Grand kids running in all directions, screaming. Then ...... we all sit by the TV and talk about the good old days. Doesn't everyone do the same thing? Everyone has left now. We have collapsed on the sofa. The cat has come out of hiding and we will do the same thing again in a few months for Thanksgiving. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.