First Easter in New York

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about the Easter holiday. Honestly, I really enjoy it as a Hallmark holiday; dying and hunting eggs, baskets full of chocolates and jelly beans, and a feast with all the trimmings.  The kids are now 22, 20, and 14, so I thought this year with all the changes in our lives I would be able to eliminate the baskets.  Yesterday Cameron said, "Mom, I sure hope that the Easter Bunny brings me another lamb in my basket this year."  The Easter Bunny has given Cam a lamb for the last five or six years.  Somehow, I had not realized that it had become "a thing".  So not only had I not bought the baskets and all the trimmings I had certainly not sought out a stuffed lamb.

So Saturday on my 30 minute break from "un-named retailer" I was dashing from Duane Reade to CVS Pharmacy looking for Easter basket stuffings.  OK, so I'm really late in doing this but I found a noticeable absence of baskets and Easter grass.  My dismay and confusion were supported  by another shopper who said he had been looking all afternoon for Easter  grass, but had come up empty handed. He was from Ohio and we wondered if Easter grass was not a thing here or we were simply too late.  I guess we won't find out until next year when we shop earlier. Now to find Cam's annual sheep stuffed animal.  Being that I only had 30 minutes to complete this feat you will understand that I was glad to find a sheep at all.  It cost 99 cents and I don't think the designer and/or manufacturer has ever seen a sheep.  The ears were too low and it had no tail, yet it somehow resembled a sheep more than a bunny, so I purchased it.  Luckily, the chocolate bunnies (hollow type) were still in stock and I was able to grab several bags of candy wrapped in pastel foil. 

Jeff picked up the egg dying kit, but there were no PAAS to be found so he bought a lesser brand.  The dyes were un-even in color, the paint stained our hands, and there were no egg wraps.  But we did have a clear crayon to write on our eggs and the stickers were fun so we proceeded in good spirits.  I fell asleep long before Jeff and the kids, but Jeff being an awesome Dad hid the eggs in our tiny apartment and filled serving plates with candy and novelty toys as only a seasoned Easter Bunny would know how.


An hour and half before church Jeff and the girls were out the door.  Jeff had early practice for choir and the girls were doing one last flag drill practice for the ceremony. The service was inspired and joyful.  There was a puppet show that was Sesame Street quality for the children's sermon, choral singing with the city's best chiming in, and fellowship to rival any Bible belt potluck. 

On our way to lunch we walked through Riverside Park and smelled the roses.  After spending the last 18 springs in the mountains I have to say that I love experiencing real spring time in April.

After church we ended up at an Italian restaurant for lunch.  My kitchen is just too small to make a feast.  It just does not invite cooking. To make this point, understand that the oven is too small to accommodate a full sized cookie sheet,  In NYC ordering fully catered meals from grocery stores and restaurants is the norm. Even Hoda Kope (Kathy Lee and Hoda, NBC) talked at Thanksgiving about ordering her complete meal from Whole Foods.

Jordan had to go to work down in Soho at Sabon, so Jeff, Cameron, and I headed to Central Park.  The park was crowded with locals, tourist, and holiday merry makers.  We saw several ladies that must have been a part of the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue with fashionably large hats full of flowers or feathers, accompanied by lovely spring coats and impressingly high heels.  No, I did not take any photos.

Every day is still a struggle in month 10 of our adventure here in New York City.   Today I am celebrating having the day off with my family, having a home to hide eggs in, and belonging to a church community to celebrate this holy season with.  

Of course tomorrow is another day. I never claimed to be a Pollyanna.  I'm just trying to be thankful when thanks are due.

"Bugsy Malone"

Busy weekend, but a lot of fun!

On Thursday night Cam's middle school play, " Bugsy Malone" opened.  I had requested to work days at "un-named retailer" so that I could volunteer for the evening play.  This is the type of thing that I love.  It's a lot more fun to volunteer and be a part of activities than just to buy a ticket and be a bystander.  So, I volunteered to work the bake sale and ended up the popcorn machine expert (think Sky Mall popcorn machine).  And it gave me an opportunity to meet other parents, which is something I desperately want to do. 

Ok, now I can share some crazy parent stories. 


On Friday night when I got there the After School Program Coordinator told me that my partner for the bake sale had called in sick with a fever of 102 F so I would have to work the booth myself until the student volunteers arrived. Ten minutes later a woman was at the bake sale table setting out cookies and cutting bunt cake into slices.  She said she had not been feeling well earlier, but wanted to stop by to at least get things organized.  WHAT?  She called saying she was too sick to work, but somehow she mustered enough energy to come to the show and put her germy hands on all of the cookies and slice cake with her bare hands.  That was so wrong.

Another parent is a pastry chef and baked several types of cookies.  Yes, they were delicious, but she made special signs to go next to her cookies ($1.50 each) whereas all the other home baked and store bought items were $1.00 each.  Hey, these are middle school kids,  they don't have discriminating pallets.  The $1.00 cookies flew off the table and I was left to reduce the cost of the gourmet cookies after the show trying to get rid of them.


And then there are the helpers who are in denial of the "clean-up".  They show up on time and work the bake sale and/or ticket booth, but then after the show they are in a rush to go, leaving what could have been a 10 minute clean-up with a full crew to a 30 minute clean-up for the few hearty souls that stayed behind to finish the job.

No parents volunteered to sponsor the after party, so two days before the show the director sent out a plea for the parents to pull a party together using the school's ballet studio as the party place.  So we scrambled to get the party pulled together with one parent donating balloons, the pastry chef volunteering a sheet cake, a variety of parents donating everything from Christmas lights (for mood) to chips and dip, and the usual crew volunteering time and clean-up. It was actually a lot of fun.  Being that it was an after party for a school musical you can imagine the party: dancing, musical chairs, and recapping songs from the show.  I think the kids all had fun and I got a lot out of it as well.

And of course after three days hanging out with other parents I got the scoop on who is still married, who is divorced and why, what kids and/or parents had meltdown when the high school admissions list were posted, and what families to steer clear of.  New York is a huge city broken down into small towns. 

Bit by bit, life in New York City is beginning to feel normal. .