My Fondest Childhood Memories of Easter

As far back as I can remember being a little girl in Brooklyn, New York, every Spring - right before Easter, my mother dressed me in "nice" clothes and took me into New York City to spend the day with her. First we went to Radio City Music Hall, in the heart of Rockefeller Center, to see their Spring Spectacular Show, which featured the famous Rockettes and the Easter Pageant.

After the show, we always went to a Barricini Candy Store to buy the candy for my re-usable Easter basket. The store was located on a corner with an open front and I can picture us standing in there choosing and buying the candy. The Easter candy I always remember my mother buying there for me was a bag of their jelly beans, a bag of their solid chocolate eggs, a chocolate religious Cross and a large, yellow egg which I think was made completely out of sugar. I still wonder if the large, yellow, sugar egg was ever edible, as I remember it always being very hard and I never attempted to eat it. It also had a whole in the middle of it, with a little chick (made out of sugar too) sitting inside the hole and circling around the top of the hole was a white line - also made out of sugar. I remember these yellow, sugar eggs being on display in my home for years. I wonder why this yellow, sugar egg was an important Easter representation to my mother. Maybe she just liked it because it was cute.

Every Easter Sunday morning I was always excited to wake up and find my Easter basket full of the Barricini candy and a few surprise little toys too, including an Easter bunny stuffed animal.

Before Easter my mother also always bought me and my siblings new clothes to wear on Easter Sunday. First we wore them to Church and then we came home and took pictures with other family members and friends. We always stayed in our Easter clothes all day for family gatherings as we celebrated Easter Sunday. I remember how we really couldn't "play" much because we had to keep our Easter clothes very clean. The Easter clothes my mother bought me every year were a pretty dress, white patent leather, single strap shoes ("Mary Janes") and a white furry hat with a matching muff. For those who don't know what a muff is, it looks like a big, furry roll with one hole on each side to put your hands into. Some had a necklace-like string attached to it to put around my neck, so it would stay on me and not fall to the ground. Living in the east, muffs kept our hands very warm on a cool, Spring day. My grandfather was a tailor so to go with all my new Easter clothes he always made me a new coat specifically to first wear on Easter Sunday. I remember always feeling so proud and "special" as I wore my new clothes on Easter Sundays.

Now as I often look at old family pictures they remind me of those cherished Easter times.