Easter

It's almost Easter! Do you love it as much as I do? Each year, we host a fun, casual Easter Egg Hunt and Lunch for our children, their small kids, our friends and their kids and grandkids too. I am happiest when little people are pushing aside our plants and squealing that they found an egg! I'm excited to share this table setting with you for my Easter Buffet. My French Hare Bucket is always featured in a grand way, these are made exclusively for us by artist Robin King, and each one is a true work of art. I love mine, when it's not serving up a large bouquet of Easter flowers and blooming branches, it does duty in my hallway holding umbrellas and antique walking canes. I try to change up the table a little bit, but since there are so many people, I usually opt for my green Majolica plates, and white plates {either antique French ironstone or my "party set" I bought years ago inexpensively when we had 100 people coming over for a dinner party} The table above, is from last year's celebration. If I truly had my act together as so many other bloggers seem to, I could show you my tables from this year, but alas, work and life makes it so that I only figure out and set up the whole thing the Saturday before Easter, sorry. The table in the kitchen is set with plates, silverware, and napkins, this is where I set up the buffet, as the French doors lead to the back garden, and in our California climate, we are fortunate to enjoy luncheon and the hunt outdoors in the sun. Most years I use linen napkins, this year I opted for colorful paper ones because I loved the colors, they reminded me of Easter eggs. The French Hare pate pots are vintage, a lovely faience, right after Easter I sold each and every one…now they are hopefully doing a happy hop on my clients' tables this spring. I love these large, rubber-ish Cabbage Leaves so much, they are placemats….I use those every Easter. My granddaughters find them hilarious {I don't ask why, I just laugh along with them ~ these are precious times!] This buffet table has the Majolica plates and the silver in planting pots corralled in a gardener's crate for ease. The table does look quite a bit nicer once the food is placed on it, but usually by that time friends and family are here and there is no time to take pictures. My little gardening stakes were used to write Easter messages on with chalk, you can find them here. Or you can buy chalkboard paper at craft stores to do this, simply glue a little sign on a dowel or little stake. French majolica is such a beautiful thing to collect, I love that you can use it, as well as display your collection….these pate forms are especially enchanting. Here is another rabbit hiding behind a crate. I picked basil and mint from the garden to place in little wicker vases around the table for a touch of green. Easter is the time to bring the outdoors in, especially if you live somewhere where it's still cold at Easter. Our Easter lunch has gone from being somewhat involved to a much simpler version, this is our menu, below. And…this is one of the only times that I allow family and friends to bring something, usually I love for my guests to just come and enjoy the meal, and the company. Easter Lunch: Fresh Vegetables with Ranch Dressing Dip One appetizer a guest brings Honey Baked Ham served at room temperature Rolls and condiments for those who love their ham in a sandwich Salads Fruit Salad Special Desserts {generally citrus flavored, or our daughter Megan's famous Coconut Cake} This is where I set up the drinks station last year, as we weren't sure if the sun would come out. I served a refreshing Lemonade in the Victorian Ice Water Tipper, a sparkling wine and champagne. Juice and lavender~cucumber~mint water too. Btw…the sun did come out, and I moved this all to a little table on the patio. Our chalkboard in the kitchen which I made from an antique rococo frame and chalkboard paint. I write seasonal messages on there, birthday messages for a birthday…generally I try to change it once a month. If you have wanted to try your hand at chalkboard art and have been afraid, don't be! As you can see, mine does not look professional, or anything like all the glorious ones you've probably seen. I try my best. And I'm happy with that, I've never had anyone come to our home and say "shockingly bad writing on your chalkboard!" instead, they always love that it is there. Not everything in your home or what you do has to be perfect. A little display in my guest bathroom, some lovely white roses in an antique silver vase, and our Bird's Egg Soaps in a Nest found Here Here is my secret to having it all look great by the time my guests arrive at lunch time on Easter Sunday after church, my secret helper Bentley! Not usually one to lay down on the job, he follows me, tail wagging, wherever I go from the kitchen to the garden, to the linen and dish closets, he doesn't miss a thing! He has a knack of laying down right where I will be walking, but that's another story. Mr. FGH says it's his gift. hmmmm. This time of year in California is truly wonderful, we have sunshine, and a soft breeze. Once everyone has visited and eaten lunch, we get down to the serious business of the egg hunt, a Bible story about Easter, and a few fun games. I love that all the children are so very good about sharing, once we think every egg has been found {it never has, I just plucked an egg out of a hydrangea last month in February!} they sit on a huge quilt on the grass and make sure each one has an equal number. This year, I am assigning each child a color, so that they will know which eggs are meant for "them", and numbering them, too, so that we know when we are missing some. Then there will be golden eggs, one per child, which will be filled with something special. Some of our professional egg hunters, baskets in hand, and ready to search through plants, shrubs and in pots for the eggs left for them. I hope you all have a beautiful Easter! Thank you for taking the time to visit us at FrenchGardenHouse, not just on our website, but on this blog, and Facebook, and Twitter, too. xoxo Lidy

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