All my childhood memories of Easter are purely Easter bunny, dying eggs, and hunting for candy. We didn't go to church when I was little, but I do remember fancy dresses and shawls so maybe we went for Easter. Did we Mom?
I watch commercial's on TV that show children hunting for plastic eggs outside...I grew up in New Hampshire so April is mud season (if there isn't still snow!), which meant our egg hunts were in the house. My mom hid individual jelly beans instead of the plastic eggs. There may have been chocolate eggs too, but I am a jelly bean fan so I don't remember anything else-except peeps of course. We have kept up the same tradition with Jake. Plus it always fun to find random jelly beans 3 months later that no one found. :)
I remember one Easter Tina (my older sis) swore she saw the Easter bunny and said he had a huge head. :) I am really considering coming clean on the whole Easter Bunny thing this year. I was torn at Christmas with the whole Santa thing but I didn't tell him. I think this Easter is going to be it. Jake always says "don't you trust me?" when I ask him something, and then ask him again to make sure...and yes I do trust him. So, it feels kind of like we are big fat liars. I can't believe he has believed this long! One year I forgot to hide the candy before I went to sleep and he still didn't catch on...
Easter...actually any holiday was special when I was growing up because my parents rock like that. :) I hope Jake will say the same in 20 years. We will see. I love the memories of Jake on Easter. He gets excited about everything and then is so thankful after wards. I think this is a good year to shift from Easter Bunny and Jesus' Resurrection, to just the real stuff. He knows what Easter is really about (His kindergarten teacher called him "little preacher" because a girl in his class said Jesus died on Easter and he corrected her and told the whole story of what really happened to the class), and it is about time we focus on what is really special about the day. I know that the Savior rose again and I have a testimony that we will all be able to live again. I am so thankful to know the truth and to be able to share it with Jake. Wish me luck that dashing Jake's childhood dreams of the Easter Bunny, will lead to better understanding and a stronger testimony of the Savior. :) We can still have egg hunts and jelly beans, even with out the Easter bunny...We have been doing it just fine all these years. So here is to our new Easter memory: complete focus on the Savior. Sounds like a great new tradition to me.
What are your Easter memories? Learn about other peoples over at Cocoa's blog.
You are so much better than me. We have never done the Easter Bunny at our house. I always figured that I couldn't change the fact that Christmas is commercialized, but I did not have to commerciale Easter. So I did not. We buy candy and put it in a basket on the table, (usually on Saturday). All the kids see it go there. We talk about the Saviors life, death and resurrection all week. I love Easter, but we have never made it "fun". It has always been our most Sacred holiday. At Christmas, we have always told the kids that Santa is the spirit of giving and he lives in the hearts of all men. If they want to believe that Santa is the man in the red suit that goes HO, Ho, Ho, that is fine. Eventually they figure things out, and it still gives them something to believe in when they find out. Because if Santa is the spirit of giving, we all get to be like him by doing good, kind things for others. Have a great day. I think you are doing a wonderful job!
ReplyDeleteReally, good luck.
ReplyDeleteLuckily when we stopped doing the Easter Bunny, we also stopped Santa, the Tooth Fairy, halloween, etc. They are totally OK with it and don't seem to be permanantly damaged or anything. :) We still do the treats, presents and what not with them so they don't miss out, but the amazing thing is the spirituality that they have now that we don't do it.
I hope you find that it works for your family. We sure don't miss it, and are so thankful we did it this way. So, good luck.