Since I’ve been an adult, this time of year has always been very special to me for a couple reasons. One, it’s Spring, which signifies new beginnings, a refreshing, a time of blooming, transformation and renewal, like a flower; the coming forth of the brightness of new life and new energy from a place of growth, preparation and refinement that may at times have felt dreary and gloomy. Although I live in a place where most of the 365 days in the year are filled with sunshine, coming out of Winter into Spring for me always feels like the lifting of a veil, like opening up the shades and letting the light in after a long period of time. This year is no different. Decor-wise I really don’t go through my house to make it spring-ready. But I do switch out my dining room tablescape to reflect the season. A couple years ago my home decor tastes were far from the all-white-all-bright everything mood I’m currently indulging in. I was blessed to have two tables, one in the eat-in kitchen, and the other in a formal dining room. You can check them out here in my “Back Down Memory Lane” post, and here in my “It’s About To Go Down” post. In my new home, I have one table in a very open floor plan. For my first Spring tablescape, I wanted to somehow capture those feelings of freshness and excitement and hopefulness that this season brings.
I started this tablescape on New Year’s Day, having just taken down all my Christmas decorations, and over the last few weeks its evolved into this.
I wanted something that was pretty, light and airy; something that felt celebratory…
I also wanted to stay with the all-white theme in the rest of the space on the first level of my home, so I was drawn to clear and crystal elements, of course with a little glitz and sparkle thrown in for good measure
Everything I already had in my house. I didn’t purchase anything new. I love re-purposing and re-positioning items to create a tablescape or vignette. It feels fantastic to achieve what I envision having spent zero dollars! Yay! But most of these items came from some of my favorite places to shop like HomeGoods and Target. But I also find great buys at consignment shops and thrift stores.
This time of year is also special to me because it’s the time of year we commemorate the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ, known to most as Easter, and many as Resurrection Sunday. I remember back in the day as a child, going to church in a pretty, new outfit, sitting through a longer than usual service, filled with skits and extra songs about the main events of Jesus’ life, His resurrection, and then having a larger than usual dinner either at our house or someone else’s. Here’s an early photo of my brother and I on an Easter Sunday… sorry Mike, haha!!!
Although I understood as a kid, the depicted events of Jesus life, his death, burial and resurrection, I didn’t grasp the fullness of what it meant. For many years it was just another Christian holiday to me. Until one day long after I’d become an adult, I pondered the significance of it all. More than Jesus’ supernatural birth, his extraordinary life of teaching, healing, blessings and miracles, and more than even the crucifixion, was the amazing sacrifice of someone enduring so much pain, and ultimately death, for me. AND… knowing that if I’d been the only person in the universe, the sacrifice still would have been made. Wow. That’s definitely praise and worship-worthy! During this week every year, I go on some sort of fast to reflect on this sacrifice, what it continues to mean for my life, and how I should be living it. When you think of Easter, you may have visions of bunny rabbits, baskets, pretty spring dresses, the re-admission of white into your wardrobe (haha), pastel colored eggs, or pastel colored anything! But when you think of Resurrection Sunday, you don’t think of any of that. You think of the celebration of Jesus being raised from the dead and his ascension to the right hand of the Father, confirming eternal life, once and for all. For it is written:
I hope this season of Spring and celebration of the great resurrection finds you hopeful and looking forward to living, being, achieving, accomplishing, progressing and thriving in the months to come.
Much love to you always,
