Easter Clothes
Just now, I was pushing little stickpins of cloves into the ham for Easter dinner, and a very old memory came back. It’s funny how an aroma can trigger your brain and suddenly you are back in time – about 60 years this time.
Just a little Easter story:
When I was about six, my mother was preparing Easter dinner, and she was getting the ham ready to go into the oven, just like I am doing now.
She went into the pantry for the cloves and the jar was empty. She had forgotten to see if she had had any – which is easy to do with a product that lasts about 17 years.
We lived in a three-family house. My Grandma lived in a little apartment up on the third floor, and my Aunt Evelyn and her family lived on the first floor. We lived in the middle – just like the three bears I thought, because the middle is “just right.”
So my mother said to my sister Claudia:
“Run downstairs and ask Aunt Evelyn if she has any whole cloves.”
And Claudia took off, her thick ponytail bouncing down the stairs.
Three minutes later Claudia returned – with Aunt Evelyn.
“I just had to come up and see for myself,” said Evelyn. “Why you would be asking for such a weird thing on Easter Sunday.”
“What weird thing?” asked my mother.
“Tell your mother what you asked for, honey,” said Aunt Evelyn to Claudia.
“Do you have any old clothes?”
Easter Sunday, 1957. Claudia on the left. (and my brother Tom, my Dad, my sister Christine, and me)
notquiteold 
I had one of those crazy hats! My mother also put pineapple and maraschino cherries on the ham (that was a bribe so the kids had something to fight over!).
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I loved that hat… with the flower on the ribbon on the side. And I took my coat off even though it was quite cold because I wanted everyone to see my pretty dress.
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Someday, you will need to write a book about the things that went on in that house! We can all chime in on the things we remember happening.
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I’m with you Susan!!! I think a book about the French Quarter, Sainte Anne section in Bristol, Ct would be fantastic, and who better to write it than our own Nancy Dube, former resident of the Foley/Center Street “Our Gang”, . Stories of the Hood….best seller of the highest caliber.
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i had, and remember those hats so well )
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It’s not Easter without an Easter bonnet.
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Lovely memory:)and beautiful picture
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Happy easter to you dear Nancy
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I don’t get the “running out of cloves” part. What was she thinking when she used her LAST clove? “Maybe some will be there the next time I need them?” or “Maybe I should put them on the shopping list?”
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Sometimes we all forget we are out of something until we need it… especially if we seldom need it. Now something vital – like Peanut Butter – I would NEVER forget!
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I remember my mother running out of salt on Christmas day. She borrowed some from a neighbor who said, “I’ll bet you have plenty of the more expensive spices on hand. It’s the cheap ones that we forget to buy because they’re so cheap, and we can afford to buy them anytime, so they’re not a priority when we run out.”
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That’s true… and it’s nice with those staples that the neighbors will always have some to spare.
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That’s Awesome! ♡
Diana xo
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I remember that and how much Mom and Evelyn laughed. afterwards. But maybe asking for old clothes wasn’t so weird since we all swapped clothes so much back then.
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True, but whose clothes would we have borrowed on Easter Sunday? Johnny’s?
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Aw, love the memory and the photo. Happy Easter, Nancy! (I remember my mom studding hams with cloves, too.)
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I still like doing it – and so does my husband – it smells so good!
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Because old clothes on Easter = sacrilege!
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Very cool. I love old pictures like that!
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Thanks… a lot of sweet memories in those old photos!
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Bi had forgotten about ham & cloves, thanks for the reminder. Did you ever chew “cloves gum” orange wrapper, delicious gum, make you smile. We neve knew how blessed we were to live when Easter dinner, cute frilly dresses, patent leather shoes, frilly white socks, Easter bunny candy in a basket, dying eggs, Easter egg hunts were the norm in every town in America, regardless of where we lived. I forgot potatoe salad, deviled eggs, macaroni/cheese, baked beans, collared greens, cornbread and baked rolls for Easter dinner. “Those were the days my friends, we thought would never end” Archie Bunker sang.
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Chocolate!
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Oh those outfits look very familiar.
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Even though I was only 6, I remember taking my coat off for that picture – I wanted everyone to see my beautiful dress.
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Old Clothes that is funny, just saying
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What a precious photo and a funny anecdote! I’m guessing your mom was taking the photo. I also had an Aunt Evelyn and my family had 3 girls and a youngest baby boy, too. I was the #2 middle child in the family. Thanks for sharing!
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Yes, Mom behind the camera. Your family was so similar!
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Perhaps the reason why we don’t buy something like cloves as soon as we run out is because you think it will be much later in the year before you’ll need it again and if you buy some more now, it will just be getting old while you’re waiting ’til you need it again. I do that with sage. I want it to be very fresh when I make dressing.
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I was looking for onion powder for a dip yesterday and right in front of me, there was a jar of cloves. First thought was, the ham with cloves my mother used to make at eastertime and how we’d dress up for Easter to go to our Babchi’s house later to bring her an Easter Lily. Second thought was, when did I buy those cloves?
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Maybe they were a shower gift!
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In our family, the story is of my niece not wanting to eat “old rotten” potatoes. We still call them old rotten potatoes when we serve them au gratin.
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Old rotten potatoes – that is hilarious! I will think of that now every time I eat them!
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Oh, the Easter dresses with crinolines and the Easter bonnets! This generation has no idea what they are missing out on. I remember the whole cloves too.
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How nice to know someone to celebrate Easter with. A few people in Japan know how to enjoy Easter.
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