Easter week odds & ends

• It's Easter week/weekend (coming up). (It always seems to kind of sneak up on me...) We've been invited to have Easter dinner on Sunday with BIL & family --  including SIL's family, at SIL's elderly father's house. As usual, I have mixed feelings on the subject: 
• I am never sure which is worse -- not getting invited anywhere ( = feeling forgotten), getting a last-minute pity invitation from BIL or another relative ( = feeling like an afterthought), or getting invited to FIL's and having to spend the day with stepMIL & her family ( = feeling obligated).  (They are nice people, of course, but it's not OUR family...) 
• I am somewhat relieved that the invitation came early, and not at the last minute, as it often does. 
• I am feeling a little apprehensive/weary, because SIL's niece will be there with her 8-month-old baby -- so of course it's ALL going to be about him and his first Easter, right?  (He IS a cute little guy -- we spent Thanksgiving with them at BIL's last fall -- & I plan to bring a little gift for him.)  
• I do feel a little better (relieved) that they've ordered food for the meal -- (a) because it means SIL & BIL will have less to do & (b) I will feel less guilty/anxious about my own contribution or lack thereof.  SIL (who usually winds up hosting and cooking for all the big events in her family, especially since her mother became ill and died a few years ago) said she refused to cook this time around;  she's got enough to do and worry about with Younger Nephew's wedding coming up shortly. It's still going to be work for her, of course, but we will probably bring a panettone &/or fruit platter &/or bottle of wine (etc.), and I will pitch in & help however I can. 
• I'm hoping the Easter package I sent to the Little Princesses last week will arrive on time. It contains some chocolate mini-eggs (of course!) & a couple of T-shirts each (matching, of course... although I'm not sure how much longer they will tolerate that...!)  from Old Navy -- including one with butterflies on it. :)  I send them packages for Valentine's Day & Halloween too, as well as birthdays, and will sometimes include small stuffed animals or other small toys that will mail easily, and/or a couple of books, depending on what I see that strikes my fancy. If I can't find anything I really like, I'll just send a card with some money tucked inside (which I am sure goes over equally well, if not more so, lol -- even at ages 3 & 6...!).  I enjoy having some little girls to spoil & buy clothes for -- and I know they won't be little forever -- and I want to remind them that we are here and we are thinking of them between our twice-yearly visits. I'm looking forward to similarly spoiling some great-nieces & nephews, if/when they start to arrive...! 
• Thank you to Sue Fagalde Lick at Childless by Marriage for reminding us that "Easter is not just for folks with kids:" 

Grownups don’t get Easter baskets. If you’re not religious, it looks like Easter is for kids: making color-crayoned pictures of rabbits or papier-mache eggs at school, dyeing hard-boiled eggs, egg hunts at dawn, encounters with adults dressed in rabbit costumes. Candy, toys, parties. Fun!

It’s another one of those holidays that may sting if we don’t have children, especially if we desperately want to have them. Whether you spend a quiet day with adults or watch everyone else’s kids having fun, it can be hard. Hang on. It doesn’t last long.

• (Grownups do get to indulge in Easter chocolate, of course, whether or not they have kids' baskets to dip into...! I've been gorging on Lindor chocolate mini-eggs for the last several weeks now....!) 
• I have a pensioner living with me!  Well, both of us are already pensioners, receiving pensions from our former employer. But dh recently applied for his Canada Pension Plan (CPP) -- which, like most Canadians, he's been paying into since he was a teenager -- and he recently received his first payment. The traditional age to receive CPP is 65, but you can get a reduced pension as early as age 60.  His 61st birthday is coming up shortly, but a combination of inertia & technical difficulties meant he didn't apply until just a few months ago. We've managed pretty well so far financially on our company pensions and some investment income, without dipping into our savings too much, but we've had some additional expenses lately (a special condo fee levy, Younger Nephew's upcoming wedding, etc.), so the monthly CPP payment will provide a welcome cushion. (I still have a few years to go before I can apply for mine!) 
• My stomach/gallbladder issues have not bothered me in several weeks now. Thank goodness!! (...and KNOCK WOOD!!).