You cannot escape from Martha at the holidays! (Or, at least, I can't)

This past Sunday, I hosted Easter for Sister K and the Aunties. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of hard work, especially since 1. it was the first time I had ever hosted a holiday, and 2. I had never had to cook a ham before. (I spent the entire day Saturday inside cleaning and doing prep work because I knew I wouldn't have time on Sunday what with Mass and all.) Fortunately on the ham front, I bought a Buddaball ham, which was precooked, and I just warmed it up in the oven for about a half hour at 350F with some pineapple slices and that was all it needed. Served it up with some horseradish and mustard. Delicious! I love ham, and now I have enough left over to make croque-monsieurs!!

We also had St. Germain cocktails to start, and they were a BIG HIT! I just think that they are the nicest aperitif, especially for spring, because they are so light and refreshing. (Plus, St. Germaine and champagne just go together in the best way.)

For favors/placecards, I modified an idea that I had read about in the April 2010 edition of Martha Stewart Living. I filled Mason jars with a layer of jelly beans (Munson's, of course) and a layer of Cadbury Mini Eggs with a Cadbury Creme Egg nestled on the top. (Oh, how I do love my Easter candy.) I used Mod Podge to affix a fun paper print to the top of the jar and then glued a spring patterned grosgrain ribbon around the center of the jar, which I then tied into a big bow. I slid a place card that I had hole punched at one end onto one of the loose ends of the bow and then put the jar in the center of the place setting on the table.

For one of our desserts (Aunt T made a carrot cake), Sister K made Easter egg-shaped cookies, which she then decorated using Martha's royal icing. These cookies tasted just like these awesome PacMan cookies that we used to get when we were kids from Deeter's bakery in Berlin (which sadly no longer exists, both the bakery and the cookies.) It was a little bit of childhood recaptured.

Things were too crazy for me on Sunday, so I took a few photos of our special Easter crafts yesterday after work. (There should have been more of the cookies in the photo, but I had eaten them for breakfast. I may have also had a good number of the jelly beans.)