Happy Eat Peeps Day!

[jmc_bks]

Being areligious, today has no significance in and of itself, although I appreciate the family dinner and the opportunity to eat Peeps bunnies and birds.  Except, wait, I didn't get any Peeps this year.  [Yes, my mother still makes baskets for each of her children, even though we are all past 30.  Mine included Cadbury caramel eggs and a home made butter cream egg.  I think there's an entire stick of butter and a half a box of 10-X sugar in that thing.]

Anyway, the family dinner was nice, and after we'd recovered from our food comas, we had desert.  Scratch devils food cake with chocolate butter cream icing from stepdad's mom.  Yum.  I could actually feel my cholesterol rising as I ate.

After that, we sat around and socialized.  Also went through some of the keepsakes Mom slected for us from Mommom's house.  They spent 7 hours last weekend clearing out stuff and only got through ~15% of the stuff Mommom had stored.   It isn't organized (hospital bills from 1953 in same box with christening gown, diamond earrings, box of rocks selected by a child and given as gift, etc.) so they can't just toss things without looking.  Mom found a stack of love letters from the time when Poppop was stationed in Korea; a silk bed spread and pillow shams (heavy, gorgeous silk with hand embroidery); and all kinds of old photos, including wedding photos.  One in particular was charming:  Mommom with a girlfriend, with a note written on the back by her mother-in-law, who took the photo and sent it to Poppop while he was away.  Also some photos of Korea.

Mom offered me the beautiful kitchen table and hutch, which I would love...must rethink the organization of my home.  It would take serious rearranging or purging of books and furniture to make them fit in my house.  

Comments

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

It's so amazing (and bittersweet) to find stuff like old letters and photos after a loved one is gone. When I found the photo of my grandfather with my grandmother's handwritten notes about him on the back, I shed oceans of tears, but it's something I'll treasure always.

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

My uncle apparently found the love letters to be hilarious, in part because we learned where Mommom's family nickname came from. Let's just say it wasn't what/why we thought it was. I loved the wedding pictures - had seen their portrait, but never the pics of the extended family, including my great grandather, who died when my mother was a small child.

[(Anonymous)]

Home made butter cream eggs - they sound amazing!! I'm partial to the caramel ones too because I don't like the traditional creme eggs as I find them insanely sweet. I've never liked them, even as a kid.

Going through keepsakes is such a sad treasure hunt. I love that she's kept everything from a rock to diamonds as equals.

~Lyvvie

[jmc-bks.livejournal.com]

The butter cream egg is quite tasty -- made by church ladies who also do canning and baking for their church's strawberry and peach festivals. Yum. They make butter cream, coconut, and peanut butter. PB is apparently the best seller (and it is good), but the BC is my favorite.

I'm not a huge fan of the creme eggs, but I love Dove truffle eggs, which are decadently delicious, if a little hard to find. Good thing, too, since I have no will power when faced with them.

The keepsakes are wonderful and heartbreaking all at once. She kept every post card and souvenir her kids and/or grandkids ever brought back from vacation or travel. And the photo albums!