amy ♥'s easter

As you can see from these pictures, I've always loved Easter. I'm three years old in the top picture and six in the bottom. I'm the curly haired, biggest smiling one standing in the back in case there's any doubt.

I love how my sister Jessica is adoring our brother Shawn. I love how her hair is still in pin curls. I can imagine the rush and fuss probably right after this picture was taken for us to all hurry and get ready for church. Do you see Shawn's baby shoes on top of the stereo?

On Easter more than any other Sunday, we'd be so happy to wear our fresh and new clothes that we've been planning and waiting to wear for weeks and weeks. My mother used to make our dresses so leading up to this day we'd had many pin-filled fittings, standing tall on a chair so that she could make sure our hem was straight. Months before this day we'd picked out the pattern and the fabric and all of the trimmings and buttons. We'd watch over the days leading up to Easter as our dresses came together.

And we probably got new patent leather shoes too. And a new white cardigan. My father would pick pretty dewy-fresh flowers for all of his girls (including my mother) to wear. I can still remember how dangerous it felt to have a stick pin so close and how it would sometimes stick me a little when I wiggled in church.

My very favorite memory of going to church when I was little was our family's secret code for "I love you". We would squeeze each other's hands three times...I (squeeze) Love (squeeze) You (squeeze). I remember how happy it was to be in between my mother and my father and squeezing their hands and then their gentle squeezing back.




p.s. For the top picture I used the photo frame from my friend Mo's digital scrapbooking collections. The kit is called "Primitive Scrapbooking" and it is my favorite.