Life is busy as ever and Easter will be upon us before we know it. Over the past week or so I have found myself making some plans. Well, not so much plans as spur of the moment preparations. A couple of packs of egg shell dye landed in the shopping basket the day I went to buy my niece’s birthday present. I saved the egg shells from the cake I baked on Tuesday. Yesterday I threw some wheat grains into a casserole dish with a splash of water  and left them on the windowsill to germinate. As long as we remember to water them, we should have a nice dish of wheat grass for Easter.

For the past three years I have been organised and used Lent to craft, bake and decorate. This year there is so much going on. There have been work trips, after school activities, sick children and more. To be honest I have barely had the time to lament the lack of time. So these little bursts of inspiration have been very welcome. Even if it takes till Good Friday for me to find the time to get Easter set up in our house, at least now I have a few irons in the fire, so to speak.

Should time allow I’d love to host a make & bake afternoon again this year. Letting a bunch of children and mums have a go at baking for Easter, painting eggs and making paper bunnies was such fun last year. But if time is too tight I’d still like to fit in a few of my previous Easter efforts with the boys. I have the curly-wurly kiwi branches cut for decorating the staircase but I am considering using them for a wreath this year.

Dyeing eggs is a bit of a tradition with myself and the children. We always enjoy it and I am determined to have at least one go at it this year. We dye empty shells as decorations as well as hard boiled eggs. Set in a dish or basket, they make a gorgeous display for Easter Sunday’s breakfast. They boys don’t really like eggs but they love to decorate them.

I don’t know if we’ll get round to making a field of sheep or the coffee filter bunnies we tried out last year, but knowing us I’ll sure we’ll have a bash at a craft or two. If you’ve any ideas for us, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear. Whether or not I’ll get round to them is another matter.

P.S. This weekend last year I had my first article in the print edition of The Irish Times. It was all about Easter traditions. You can read it here.