Easter (And Fashionably Late, Too)

When we were young, Easter was a conglomeration of family and feasting and Easter basket-hiding and egg-coloring and candy-consuming and remembering--although probably not enough of the last. These past few years have become tinged with less sugar (well, okay...you've got me there...still a lot of sugar...) and a more healthy dose of remembering. Now that I have entered the realm of Adulthood, Easter has become a time for homey joys and quiet thoughts that are often pondered but not shared.

We do, however, still enjoy an Easter feast. This feast has become more sumptuous now that my sister Abigail has a still-new nest of her own, made lovely by her instinctive artistic tastes and clever fingers. This is where a [sadly-small this year] Johnson gathering congregated to celebrate the Christ with good conversation and joyful children and pleasantly full bellies.

The hustle and bustle of a before-Easter-feast kitchen, all hands big and little pitching in.

Our hostess, the beautiful [and very pregnant] Abigail. Baby Honeybuckle has not yet joined us in the Out Here but is sure to come soon, God willing.

Abigail's handiwork. Isn't it lovely? Seeing the picture after the fact makes me want to melt right into the photograph. Funny how making a room into a piece of art can do that.

Centerpiece. We had finished eating by this time and were contentedly lounging on couches and in chairs, talking and reading stories to Abby's gaggle of little girls.

And so another Easter has come and gone. The years go by quickly, and I'm only twenty-two. I wonder how quickly they'll pass a few decades from now...