There will be no Easter eggs, no baskets, no chocolate, no colored grass, no Easter egg hunts, no talk of the Easter rabbit in this house. Those days are long gone, but I remember them as if they were yesterday. I was reminiscing with my girls and asking them if they remembered any of it. They tell me yes, but they weren’t there for all the behind the scenes effort I put into pulling off a great Easter year after year.
As only grandchildren on both sides of our families, my girls were spoiled for every occasion and birthday. I am as guilty, if not more, than anyone, of over indulging them their every wish. The fact that they were always so good and sweet and well behaved, only made me want to reward their behavior all the more. So when Easter rolled around, they got baskets from my mother in-law, filled little baskets with chocolates and colored eggs for the girls to find. When we went to my mother’s house, my brother had huge baskets with all sorts of little toys and even summer outfits in them. And when they woke up Easter Sunday, we had our own traditional ritual.
Every Easter I would cut out a big bunny head and color in the face. I made it a card and, inside the card, were instructions and clues to their Easter egg hunt. Every room in the house had a number of plastic eggs filled with chocolate treats. The little poem in the card revealed the number of eggs in each room so they could be sure to find them all. I would place the bunny card out side their bedroom door to find when they woke up. I must had hidden, with no exaggeration, at least 60 eggs of all sizes, all over the house. They loved the hunt for eggs more than the huge baskets waiting for them in the living room! I shopped for weeks before Easter, trying to find two of everything for their baskets. Little purple and pink stuffed bunnies, Barbie dolls, Slinkies, Jacks, Silly Putty, Jump Ropes, Stickers, jewelry, all sorts of little items I knew they would love. We sure made the most out of every Easter! After all the morning hunting and opening baskets and breakfast, we would get dressed and head over to my mom’s for dinner and spent the day with family. Those were special times. Times we took for granted when they happened and didn’t appreciate enough. It’s always the way in life, you never know what you got till it’s gone.
I would love to go back and revisit the days of Easters past, but that’s not the way things work. If you have young children and your parents are around to celebrate with you all, treasure these moments. Parents pass on, children grow up, and the holidays are never the same. “Used to be’s ain’t what they used to be,” as my mother would often say…and she was right.
