Easter 2017 - revised

Lo! The official holiday portraits, with the traditional bloody stains all over our arms from tie dying.

MUSTACHE

That dress is actually salmon, and not pink, I mention with unnecessary defensiveness 

But this one is 

Zenny does a pulse check on Mr. I'm-too-handsome-to-smile

TRADITION #1: egg and tie dye with the cousins

Verdict: the Tulip dye from Walmart is pretty good, but you have to set the color in salt or vinegar after they sit overnight or they fade and look old after one wash.

This year we tried the fancy gilded egg kit and it was complete bullshit - the glue takes 5 minutes to get tacky and the foil doesn't peel off well, and by the time you agonize over one egg, the kids have dunked all the rest of the eggs into purply-brown mud and run away.  But these two turned out ok.

The cute little egg on the right is from our own Chucky the Chicken

Madame Dainty Eggs herself

"LEIF LOOK AT THE CAMERA."

all the ham we need

TRADITION #2: basket hunt, candy binge, and breakfast of creamed eggs on fresh biscuits 

.5 seconds before getting his squirter taken away

This was the year the boy grew 6 inches and ate all the bickies. Teenagers are the best rewards for the home cook, because you can just stand over them and tip the whole pan into their faces.

TRADITION #3: dinner at grandma's house

MOAR CANDY

 my mom's murder cats watching the bird feeder 

I make a point of taking proper pictures of my cousins with the high-res camera every Easter.

 Guess which one is the "Well actually" cousin? (Also I will note that the two boys on the left are the same age. I promise I feed my kids.)

My mother had two mimosas and became too silly to finish cooking the feast, so I stopped rummaging her media cupboard for Deep Purple and the Guess Who albums and took over the kitchen. Lamb! Fresh mint sauce! Glazed carrots! Creamed peas! Cherry custard meringue pie! First-rate Easter, folks. 

Cheers to the good old days, and being here in them right now.