I have so much to be thankful for and joyful about today. It was my first time to host a holiday get-together for my family. It sort of just fell together...Patrick and I decided that we wanted to attend our own church (Grace Community Church in Brentwood) for Easter, invited my family, they said yes, then I decided to make a special lunch rather than everyone going out to eat after church.
I absolutely LOVE spring time, so this was a perfect opportunity to clean and freshen up our house.
I got these placemats and napkins at World Market on sale, plus I had a 10% off coupon, making the placemats a little over $3 each. The napkins were about $8 for a set of six.
This decorative plate was a wedding gift from our "in-laws", the Moores. I like to switch out the ribbon according to the season/occasion, and chose this scripture specifically for Easter :)
I decorated the table with hyacinths, purchased from Trader Joe's. I bought the vases at Old Tyme Pottery awhile back for about $1 each! I chose hyacinths because they are very pretty and bright pink (to match my placemats), but not really tall...I wanted everyone to be able to see each other across the table.
We had such a fun day! We attended the 9:00 worship service with my family, then headed back to our place for Easter lunch. When we got home from church, I set out the appetizers (deviled eggs, mozzarella dip, and almond M&M's) while the chicken and potatoes were baking. I planned the menu around getting everything ready quickly, since my family had to leave by 1:00 so that Ricky could get to work. Almost everything was able to be prepared the day before, so that made it really easy.
The Menu:
- deviled eggs (made by my grandma)
- mozzarella dip with crackers
- lemon herb chicken tenders
- cheesy baked mashed potatoes
- green beans (made by my grandma)
- rolls
- fruit salad (made by my mom)
- sweet tea
and for dessert, homemade carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting :)
It ended up being a great meal, and I enjoyed the time to celebrate with my family so much.
I titled this post "Joy", because I honestly cannot remember the last time I have felt as joyful as I have this weekend, and the last few weeks in general. I never knew there could be such satisfaction and love in preparing food, that you could actually delight in cleaning your house when you feel incredibly blessed to be a homeowner. I rejoice in my friendships, and thank God for times I can laugh til my belly hurts, even if that's when I'm running through a crazy rainstorm, screaming my head off. I rejoice in the beauty of this Resurrection Sunday. I rejoice in my church community, who is so loving and thoughtful and genuine. And mostly I rejoice in my Savior, who was perfect and blameless, who was nailed to a Cross in my place, and who rose again so that I could have certainty in God's sovereignty and my salvation.
He is Risen. He is Risen indeed.
