here comes peter cottontail

"Here comes Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on it's way," I sang as I peeled off egg shells for deviled eggs. My mom joined in, and I'm pretty sure our dog went in the other room to get away from our out-of-tune voices.

Although I am not very religious, I appreciate that Easter is a holiday that symbolizes rebirth. With Spring bringing the grass back to life and aiding the flowers in blooming, I can't help but love the season. It doesn't hurt that my birthday is in Spring, too.

Although we had an ice storm just a few days ago, the temperatures rose just in time for Easter, melting the snow, and bringing sun for our family dinner today. My mom set the table with pink dishes, white milk glasses, and Easter decorations to pull off another beautiful get together.

Last night, my mom and I sat around the kitchen table writing names on eggs with a wax crayon and dipping them into dye. As an extra touch, she bought egg holders that were glazed in pastel colors and shaped like tulips. These served as placemarks for the guests, which pulled the whole table together.

Along with the table setting, she decorated the house with bunnies, chicks, flowers, and more. Take a look at what our Easter entailed and I hope you had a wonderful day yourself.

Old children's books that feature bunnies and ducklings.

A little stuffed carrot bundle.

Left: It's hard to find tins anywhere these days, but we have a Paas Dye Company one that will be an antique at some point. Right: Pink plate on pink plate + egg place setting. 

Easter bunnies taking a break -- Easter Greetings!

We even have Easter salt and pepper shakers.

Bowl of wooden eggs.

Ham, fruit salad, olives and pickles -- just the start.

Our feast #mouthwatering

 

Deviled eggs are delish.

Bunny in a cabbage water pitcher.

My favorite brother, Colton. I love him so.

My dad and I.

Easter flowers, yo.

St. Paddy's Day Lunch

Did you wear green on St. Patrick's Day? If  you didn't, did you get pinched? 

For many, wearing green is the extent of their dedication to the holiday. For others, it's a day to get drunk on green beer. For my mom, it's a day to decorate, cook Irish food, and gather around the table. 

It can be a lot of work putting a themed lunch together between choosing a menu, buying the ingredients, making the food, and decorating, but she loves it. A few weekends ago, she went antique shopping with my grandma and picked up a set of dishes with an intricate green design just for the party. She came home itching to show me the find that would bring the whole lunch together.

After searching the internet for what type of foods she would make, she settled on beef stew, soda bread, and coleslaw. She couldn't decide on an Irish dessert, so my grandma made no-bake cookies. Although not Irish, you can never go bad with no-bakes. The meal truly was delicious.

An antique find

Singing leprechaun figurine sitting on a pot of gold

A peak at the green decorations 

Do you decorate the bathroom for holidays, too? These shamrocks are hanging from the shower curtain 

Homemade beef stew with huge chunks of meat and potatoes

Yum

Soda bread + coleslaw

And next week -- Easter. Now we have to disassemble St. Paddy's Day decorations and get out the bunnies and baby chicks.

Merry Christmas

My mom says I'm grumpy on Christmas mornings. I probably have the "I'm still half asleep. Why do I have to be up this early" look on my face, and my attitude probably matches. When I asked my dad on Christmas Eve what time we had to be up in the morning and he replied with 7 a.m., I laughed saying we should move it back a few hours. That's just not how it works in our house though.

When I was a child, I would try to stay up as late as I could, waiting to hear the hooves of reindeer on the roof. I would wake up in the middle of the night and skitter into the living room to peek in my stocking and see if Santa had brought me the one big thing I had wished for. It was always sitting on the couch, unwrapped.

I guess over the years my eagerness to be up on Christmas morning has declined, but it's still such a magical day. I get to watch the faces of my family light up as they open the presents they didn't expect or are excited to receive.

It's tradition that my Spears side of the family comes over for breakfast. And let me tell ya, it's a feast. We have bacon, sausage, eggs, cinnamon rolls, potatoes, and my favorite - a huge assortment of fruit. I look forward to, not only the delicious breakfast, but the company of my cousins that I don't get to see very often.

On the Schultz side, we get together whenever it is convenient for everyone. The last couple years we have been extending our party out to friends and relations beyond my aunts and cousins. That's what's so great about the holiday season - we get to catch up with the people we love.

First of all, I'm supporting CMU. Second of all, I was so excited to get my favorite Disney movie Sleeping Beauty. Third, yes, I'm grumpy.

I guess my dad and mom had gone to a pawn shop and she set her eyes on an antique stove that was in the shop. My dad said she was "raving about it." He logged it in his memory and went back to get it for her for Christmas. I'm not sure where she's going to put it, but take note all you men out there. Listen to your woman and you'll make her very happy.

My daddy unwrapping the gift I got him: a memory foam neck pillow. He hurt his shoulder awhile ago and has been sleeping in the chair every night. Hope this helps a bit.

Mom, dad, me, and grandma making Christmas breakfast.

My mom is a master decorator (did you see her table at Thanksgiving?). My brother's place card was held by a wizard...I mean Santa.

All workin' in the kitchen. I'm cutting apples for our fruit platter, my dad is cooking sausage, and my mom is flipping the bacon. Teamwork!

This is only a small portion of my mom's Christmas village. The first picture is also of her village.

My mom and I don't know how to take a good picture.

A row of angels looking over us.

My cousin smiling beautifully, and her fiance, Jordan.

My place card was a sled. Isn't everything at the table just so cute?

Me, my cousin Autumn, and Jill (aka the other Autumn). Funny story. My mom texted my cousin, Nick, to tell him about Christmas plans. He said he was bringing Autumn (his sister), his girlfriend, and his dog. My mom thought he meant his girlfriend's name was Autumn, so she put that name on her place setting and her gift. Come to find out, her name is Jill. Whoops.

Nick and his dog. This is an 80 lb puppy and runs so crazy. He also got on the table and had a few bites of cinnamon roll. I don't blame him, they were really good.

The table centerpiece.

My Sadie girl. She was looking at those squirrels running around outside. As you can see, there was no snow. It was basically the same weather as Seattle.

Colton and I. He was giving my grandma a lecture about not taking pictures with flash (preach!) and he told me to take a pic with him to show grandma. I asked if we could take a pic with his really good camera and he refused. Later he said that if I didn't make such a big deal about taking a picture with him, he would do it. I wasn't making a big deal about it (at first). I never win.

I brought this Bainbridge Island ferry ornament home to put on our tree. It even has little cars on it.

My brother showing my Aunt Cheri some stuff on her camera.

Steph and Claire. That little girl is getting so big.

Little miss Chloe was all cuddles at the Schultz Christmas party. My aunt took a pic of Chloe, Isaac (her brother) and I all cuddling on a very comfortable chair, but my dad missed the photo op. Love them.

Hope everyone had an amazing holiday, too.

Blizzards and Gizzards: Thanksgiving from Michigan

Like I said here, my mom is a decorator/holiday event extraordinaire, and she sent me some pics from her Thanksgiving table. I had to share because it looks wonderful.

I saw her ideas brewing on Pinterest with every Thanksgiving pin, like this adorable cornucopia made with sugar cones and stuffed with candy to make a holiday-themed place card. Don't miss the other details like the jute around the silverware.

My mom has been talking about amber glass for years and she finally found some goblets and other dishes on one of our antique/flea market adventures.

We might have a jello addiction at our house. Every year we make jello eggs and jello-beans for Easter. While I was away at college, my mom would send me jello molds for every holiday, and now she has found a jello turkey!

Thanks, dad, for teasing me! My parents sent this pic with the message at the bottom. Sorry for the vegetarians out there, but turkey skin is so delicious - moist, juicy, kinda crunchy, the most flavorful part of the turkey.

When I was little, my dad's side of the family would get together for Thanksgiving dinner. I would see my grandma sneak away to the kitchen and steal pieces of the skin. Now every year when I hear the electric knife start, it's my cue to wander into the kitchen for a piece of skin. It's kind of like my me and my dad's tradition because when I get there, my dad has left a pile for me.

I keep hearing that it's snowing a lot in Michigan, but it just goes in one ear and out the other because it's always snowy in Michigan. I guess I should have realized that it was bad when numerous people said they went in the ditch, but it didn't hit me until I looked at this picture of my backyard.

Washington is warm and rainy. When I look at all that snow, I'm not sure I'm ready for blizzard weather three weeks. But I have to admit, it does look like a beautiful winter wonderland.