Springtime and Easter greetings from our family to yours!

We’re starting to gear up for Easter weekend around here.  This year, I was hoping to give naturally dyed easter eggs a go.  It’s actually something that I grew up doing.  We always had a batch of eggs dyed in onion skins and then by Polish tradition, you etch out designs with a little needle.  When I was daughter’s age, I most certainly did not have the patience for that and much preferred the many colors that you could use in commercial dye.

However, in my older age I find myself wanting to slow down and try the things that take a little bit more time.  Unlike Denmark, we don’t have all the days off for the preparations and I’ll confess that I miss those (no time for an Easter room this year!).  There was always a sense of “getting ready” for holidays there, whereas here, holiday preparations blend into many of our daily obligations.  It’s a concerted effort not to over-plan and over-book, and to save time for doing things a little more slowly.

We’ll have the regular colors this year as always, but I was hoping to give these blueberry dyed eggs from Fruetcake and these green eggs from Design Mom (what can I say, we’re partial to green around here) a go as well to bring a little bit of old school into the mix.  We’re carving out the afternoon before Easter as a family to take our time…not cramming the eggs in between a million activities but taking the time to set up the eggs, maybe watch a Charlie Brown or two, order in  – it might not go perfectly….the colors might not be as in the picture… but I think we’ll end up with exactly the feeling that the holidays are meant to give.

Wishing you a festive easter and spring holiday! Hopefully there will be some fresh air and outside time, but also a few indulgences here and there too! Back after the holiday!

Holidays are a big thing in Denmark, no matter what the season and right about now we are full in Easter and spring time mode.  The kiddies at forest school have been busy – I thought I’d share just a few pictures of their recent creations before the upcoming break.

Easter is a huge holiday here in Denmark and although religious in origin, it is now mostly secular.  There are still eggs and chocolates and all the forbidden fruits that children love so dearly, but on the whole, I have to say that Easter is much simpler.  Which is  bit funny since we get so much time off – 5 days to be precise.  And it’s one of the few times the school is closed…Although the religious components here are nearly gone, the sense of holiday is not.  In general, it really does symbolize the transition to spring here (whether the weather is cooperating or not)  and so there are lots of decorations of nests and eggs and spring time chicks and birds and bunnies and anything else that symbolizes starting anew.  The kids built little moss lined nests to hold a single egg, which they had been dying in various root vegetables in the previous week.  Little eggs were painted, and springtime teaser notes cut out.  I didn’t get snaps of all of them but a few of the recent ones.

For us, we’ve become acclimatized enough to life here to know that the best way to celebrate something like this is to take it easy.  We’re excited to have family in town and personally, I’m excited to have 5 days off of work.  We have a few outings and a few walks planned and some special meals here and there but mostly, we’re just looking forward to being together, with no obligations other than to enjoy home, enjoy the weather, and enjoy each other.  Isn’t that a real holiday after all?