Why I Love Easter...

I have always loved Easter and springtime, but I think I liked it more when my son Cam was born. I like to consider myself a creative type and this holiday brought out my creative ideas! When I make Easter baskets, I like to include little toys, trinkets and candy in his Easter basket. I also started making baskets for my husband Walt and some family members. From choosing the filler to the candy and gifts, it is a lot of fun. Target’s $1 section has a lot of great Easter basket filler items. I’ve also gotten ideas from magazines like Martha Stewart and Family Fun.

When Cam was old enough to find his Easter basket, we started a tradition of hiding it somewhere in the house. We would have hid it outside, but here in Northeast Ohio, there can still be snow on the ground at Easter time. Even though he is almost 9 years old now, he still enjoys finding his Easter basket. Our cats Coco and Breezie also help look too! And sometimes I buy a little Easter treat for them too.

After finding the Easter baskets, we head out to church and then go out to breakfast at Ihop or another favorite breakfast place. It’s a special time for our family, to enjoy being together and looking forward to spring-time.

I also like to send out Easter cards to family and friends. This year, I also made Easter cards with Shutterfly, with Cam’s photo. They turned out really cute!

Besides cards and baskets, for our yearly tradition, we go to my husband’s aunt’s house for dinner. We get together with about 30 family members and have a wonderful meal of ham, corn, potatoes and more! I usually make my Easter bunny cake, this is another tradition I’ve been doing since I was a teenager. Last year, I also made baked mac and cheese. There are a lot of great cooks in our family, so it’s always a wonderful meal!

After dinner, some of the adults go outside and hide the plastic Easter eggs. The kids come out later and race to gather as many eggs as they can! Last year, I filled the eggs with foil-wrapped candy and some with change. And I also made a few special Disney eggs for the girls in the family. My son likes Star Wars, so I hid a few Star Wars eggs around the house too! Easter is definitely a special time for our family.