This year, approximately 60 members of Nancy Koeckenberg’s family will sit down to their annual Easter breakfast.
Like usual, they’ll take their seats at three long tables — constructed years ago by Koeckenberg’s dad — and admire the festive tablecloths — sewn years ago by her mom.
Just like every year, the breakfast will be eaten in the small basement of Koeckenberg’s Greenfield home — built decades ago by her grandfather.
But her guests will see something different at their places this year — a memory book, compiled by Koeckenberg, to commemorate the family’s 100th annual Easter breakfast.
An Easter tradition followed a family from Germany to Greenfield
Koeckenberg’s grandparents, Alfred and Hertha, started the family’s Easter breakfast tradition in 1924, their first year together as a married couple, and just a few days after their first child — Koeckenberg’s dad — was born.
While those first few Easters in the German city of Regensburg were not as large as they would be in later years, they did mark the beginning of what would become a key part of the Koeckenberg Easter breakfast — their Easter eggs.