Mar
28
2023
Hand Painted Basket
Posted in Family Life 2 Comments
I enjoy switching the seasonal decorations around my house.
Little touches here and there that help set the tone for the particular time of year.
The seasonal flag outside on of our garage doors gets changed frequently.
There is something comforting in the rhythm of the seasons.
Easter decorations are out now.
Bunches of silk forsythia in a large vase just beg to be touched to see if they’re real.
Heavy porcelain eggs in a special dish purchased many years ago, are on the dining room table.
Adorable rustic bunnies, on my Hoosier cabinet, were made by a Mennonite woman.
There is one item that I have had for many years.
It is tucked in the back of the hutch in my dining room.
Some years, I almost forget to get it out.
Every time I reach for it, it makes me smile.
It was given to me quite a while ago.
It is a piece designed by the artist, Jim Shore.
It is fragile, and colorful, and whimsical.
The gift giver knew me well.
It is a hand painted basket with five delicately decorated eggs.
Around the basket, there is the design of a picket fence, through which flowers are poking.
Two bunnies, on each side of the handle, seem to be guarding the eggs inside.
Each egg is decorated in typical Jim Shore fashion.
One egg has a bunny leaping over some tulips.
Two eggs have a quilt pattern painted on them.
One has a floral design.
One egg is yellow with delicate pink flowers.
I remember when this gift was given to me.
My youngest daughter was still in elementary school.
She stared at the basket of eggs.
Mommy, can you put the yellow egg on the top?
And so it became tradition.
Every year, when the basket came out of the hutch, I made sure the yellow egg was on top.
That little thing made my daughter so happy.
Even when she was at college, I arranged the eggs knowing that she would notice.
Again this year, the basket came out of the hutch.
I am always so careful as I transport it from one place to another.
I was in a rush the day I took it out.
I set it in place and didn’t think any more about it.
My grandchildren were here to celebrate my husband’s birthday on St. Patrick’s Day.
My oldest granddaughter went over to the spot where I had placed the basket of eggs.
She gently fingered the eggs without lifting them from the basket.
My youngest daughter walked over to her.
You like the eggs, too? She asked her niece.
They were always special to me, she continued.
Which one do you think was my favorite egg? She asked, wondering if she would guess.
This one, my granddaughter said, pointing to the yellow egg, which was still on the top.
My daughter looked over at me and smiled.
I understood her smile.
In that instant, she was a little girl again, much like my granddaughter.
She was fingering the fragile eggs, letting me know the one she liked best.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
I saw the two of them standing there.
Daughter and granddaughter; aunt and niece.
Nothing has changed and yet everything has changed.
One little basket of delicately painted fragile eggs was a connecting point.
Here, two generations stood, liking the same egg.
That may seem insignificant to some, but not to me.
They are kindred spirits.
Yet, what thrilled me most of all was that the yellow egg was still on the top.
From last year or perhaps from the year before, it remained.
It was important then.
It is important now.
It is tradition and it is good.
Gina, I see why you love your hand painted basket and decorated eggs- each egg painted with such colorful detail in its own unique way, all of them so beautiful! And I love the tradition behind them now shared between your daughter and her niece! I happen to love pulling out my assortment of painted eggs this time every year too – a welcomed reminder that Spring has arrived once again bringing color, new life and joy both indoors and out- a great reminder of Eccl. 3:1 indeed!
Spring. New Life. Beginnings.
Amen, Carolyn.
My basket of eggs is special to me.
Gina