Happy Easter to all who celebrate. Good memories from Easter weekend are still with me. The breakfast table had a place setting for each of us and we each had an Easter basket. We had a soft-boiled egg and some bacon for breakfast. It was ready to eat before we plowed into the basket frenzy. I can assure you, we ate everything on our plate. We could not open the baskets until we ate it all.

In the afternoon, most years, we would dress in our Easter clothes. Then, we headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. There, we were greeted with the best almond cookies ever. I still can’t replicate that recipe. Cousins were there and we did our best running up and down the hallways together. When we got older, of course, we changed a bit. Signs of the times in the 60’s and 70’s led us to grow up. We became a tad bored, so we changed to dining out.

Thinking of gatherings this Easter, I dug into some family ephemera. These photos show my Grandmother and Grandfather. They also show my Great Grandparents of both sides of my father’s family. They look celebratory and though times really haven’t changed much except for the garments.

Below is my Grandmother’s, my Great Grandparents, and my Great Great Grandmother. My Grandmother is the one with the big bows on the right side. No smiles, but they sure look handsome.

Then here below, is my paternal Grandfather and his family. He is the child in the foreground on the left. He had freckles and a stern face even as a boy. My Great Grandmother is at the head standing there in the back looking at the camera. Great Grandfather is faded out on the right. They were huge Yosemite and parks people. They enjoyed the outdoors more than being inside. Hence Grandpa always being on a boat. This photo was taken on a camping trip to a place called Cazadero in California. As a child, I went there also to camp with our family. Those were fun days. We went there on holidays, birthdays, and whenever we could and the bunch of us looked just like this. I think there were only 3 or maybe 4 of us then though.

These days, I do what I can for the holidays. I have dinners with friends and family. I don’t do much decorating. I just don’t want to clean it all up anymore. I get my “fix” by going out and seeing others decorate.

Although not all holidays were the greatest with family arguments, etc., some memories are good. I think the best were with Grandpa and Grandma in San Francisco. It looks to me they were all happy gathering about too.

Below as the header photo, is an ICM shot of my front door. The light hit it just right to get the shot. Black and white seemed to take out all the distractions and in doing that, the light came out more.

To all who celebrate, Happy Easter, and to those that don’t Happy Gatherings to you.

Kathleen Jennette

Ancestry