From the time I was a small child in Missouri and until I was a teenager, my sister and I started preparing for May Baskets during the month of April. We saved anything we found that would help us construct a small box to decorate.

The decorations were limited to crepe paper, construction paper and bits of lace, old pieces of bead necklaces, small pieces of fabric or anything we found around home that fit the purpose. My sister and I worked together on our projects but there were times we found it a little difficult to share our decorating treasures.

Crepe paper was a stretchy paper in many colors folded in a rectangle about as long as a newspaper folded in thirds. It was versatile, cheap, and colorful and found in almost every home.  Flowers were often shaped from it for home decorations. They were sometimes dipped in melted paraffin wax and made a nice bouquet. Most homes had a vase of crepe paper flowers.  We used a lot of that left-over paper decorating our baskets with pretty ruffles. The next search was for real flowers to put in the baskets.  Some years that was a hard task. I always enjoyed our neighbor’s locust tree that was blooming at that time of year.  The blossoms filled the basket beautifully and the sweet, lovely fragrance is impossible to describe.  The baskets were ready, flowers added and the May Baskets were delivered the evening of May first.

We would put them on a friend or neighbor's porch; knock on the door yell May Basket and run. Mama was careful to see we remembered the elderly people on our street.

There were a few mischievous kids who would tie a string to a basket and jerk it back as you started to pick it up. They usually gave you the basket anyway. I don't remember any trouble.

I was always anxious to get back home to see how many baskets I had on my porch. There were times like Valentine's Day when I was sometimes disappointed by the number of cards I got but not May Baskets. It was so thrilling in those days of limited income and personal possessions to have such a pure and happy time.  Many joyful moments were spent in the challenge of making the baskets pretty with whatever we could scrounge up and in the giving and receiving

Toward the end of my era some of the baskets had packages of gum or candy. It was such a thrill to get these treats because we had so few.  In retrospect, I see the pure beauty and joy of May Baskets began to be lost. We were so anxious to see what was in the basket we tended to forget the flowers and sentiment attached to the occasion.  It was also somewhat depressing when I were unable to afford treats for the baskets I was giving.  Money was always scarce in those days and yet it seems to me joys were abundant.

Looking back, I now see the beginning of the commercializing of sentimental, free and joyful things I had experienced as a child.

My wish today would be to implant in every child's heart just once the overwhelming pride of making something from practically nothing , giving with pure joy and the glorious welcome to a new spring with bare feet and a good swimming hole thrown in for good measure.