The Blessing Of Easter

Happy Spring dear friends! We had a tease of spring earlier in the month, but the past few days have been cold in the South.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” ‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬

I am joining twenty talented table stylists to bring you a Spring Tablescape Blog Hop hosted by my friend, Rita at Panoply. You will find links for beautiful tabletops at the bottom of this post.

The season of spring has many reasons for celebration in our family. All three of our grandchildren have spring birthdays, March, April, and May. My wonderful Renaissance Man turns a year older in April. With all of these sweet blessings, our greatest blessing is Easter!

Easter, like other holidays, encompasses a wide variety of things we would consider “blessings”. Bunnies, baskets, and brightly colored eggs bring excitement to children, and it’s a blessing to observe them laughing and running as they search for that prize egg. What about time with family and friends…have I mentioned good food? A truly great blessing at Easter is the springing forth of new life all around us as winter retreats and warmer, longer days arrive. We are most blessed by being able to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, being also the source of new life, yet new life that is eternal. The beauty of this spring will again give way to another autumn in a few months, but the significance of His empty tomb will never change!

We had some beautiful sunny days last week, but the temps were rather cool. I bundled up so I could set a table next to our woodlands!

Bunnies are very active around our home in the springtime. A couple of moss ones hopped onto the table. At least I don’t have to worry about them munching on the flowers!

A pastel yellow Prairie tablecloth by Rachel Ashwell is an ideal foundation for an Easter/Spring table. Whimsical bunny ears hold pink fringed napkins and woven placemats add a bit of texture. The Godinger iced tea glasses are from Horchow many years ago. The Rogers silver-plated flatware was a wedding gift.

The bright green grass is planted each autumn by RM. It stays green all winter and provides a beautiful carpet in early spring, a most lovely backdrop for a tablescape.

“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in the books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
~Martin Luther

With frost predicted, I cut snowball viburnums, Bridal Wreath spirea, Pride of Mobile azaleas from our garden, and redbud branches from the woodlands. I stored them in RM’s workshop for a couple of nights and the blooms stayed fresh. They were arranged in a MacKenzie-Childs Flower Market canister for a sweet spring bouquet.

Each year at Christmas, my precious Daddy gives me money to buy whatever I might want. This year I bought two different sets of salad plates, sharing one set last week for Tea On Tuesdays. A set of cute bunny plates is part of the Rose Famille collection from Williams Sonoma. The set contains four salad plates of two designs, and I could not resist them!

The pair of mischievous bunnies are too cute!

The Rose Famille dinner plates were purchased last year with money gifted me by my Dad for Christmas. My 92 year old Daddy derives great pleasure when I show him what was purchased!

My adult play house, the Sunshine Cottage, is shown in the background. The granddaughters and I have spent countless hours reading, playing dolls, having tea parties, and even a few nights of sleep-overs on a blow up mattress (oh, my aching back)!

Late afternoon offers a scene of light and shadows dancing across the green carpet.

You can catch a glimpse of everyday living in the background of this photo! RM and our son were cleaning up after a dead tree removal. Of course, they needed to do it during my window of opportunity to photograph.

“There is an unexplainable stirring that occurs when winter finally exhibits the humility to completely bow out and relinquish all rights to spring!”
~ Butch Richardson