Getting ready for Ostern / Easter

Easter is on Sunday, April 1st this year!  That is only a few short weeks away, and I have converted my mantle and other decorations to reflect SPRINGTIME & Easter.  The daffodils are blooming where I live (although I know other areas of the country are still covered in snow!). 

I put my favorite table cloth on my dining room table.  The embroidery on it is in the picture above & below.  This burlap cloth is from Germany- not really sure if it was my Oma's, but I did get it from my mother. 

Growing up, my mother often set up a Osterbaum (Easter tree), which is a German Easter time tradition.  Our tree usually had branches of Weidenkätzchen (literally translated:  willow kittens - or pussy willows) or sometimes just flowering branches put into a vase.  Then Easter eggs were hung on it.  Sometimes, we hollowed out our own eggs by blowing the yolks and whites out - it was very tricky, delicate work!  Here's some instructions if you care to try it:  how to blow out eggs

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By the way, did you know the little gray, fuzzy "blooms" on the pussywillow are called "catkins" in English?  These catkins appear on the stem long before the branch's leaves come out, and they are considered one of the earliest signs of Spring.  Various forms of pussywillows are native to Northern Europe, Northwest Asia, and Northern America.  

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