Easter 2014

When my brother and I were children we celebrated Easter in various ways. We were dressed in new Easter clothes and taken to church, something that was quite rare in our house. I always had an Easter bonnet and I always got to carry a purse. I vaguely remember the purse because I would sit in church and open and close it for entertainment, but I remember vividly the bonnet.  I wore the same bonnet (and by the pictures carried the same purse) each year and kept it, giving it to Madison to wear for Easter when she was little.

We always decorated Easter eggs with the little colored kits, trying to outdo one another in egg beautification.

And the Easter Bunny always brought us Easter baskets and hid plastic eggs inside or outside, depending on the weather, for us to hunt. We always had one egg that couldn't be found each year and we always would find it several months or maybe even a year later at the oddest time. And finding that one egg after all that time would be the most joyous event ever. "I found the Easter egg! I found the missing Easter egg!" It was like a tradition in our house.

As we got older we stopped decorating and searching for eggs, but my dad always made sure we had Easter chocolates and something decorated from the local grocery's bakery. It is one of those traditions that I have fond memories of and am grateful to my parents for helping to make.

When I had my own children I tried to do the same for them. Tom and I colored eggs with them as did their grandmother Mary Anne. We took them to various Easter Egg Hunts all over town, including ones in a pool where they had to dive to the bottom for the eggs.

We took them to breakfast with the Easter Bunny. Or to tea with the Easter Bunny.

And each year the Easter Bunny came and hid eggs in our playroom, branching into other areas in the house as they got older. Each plastic egg had an "M" or a "D" so that each girl got the same amount of eggs to hunt and each egg contained a goodie inside. And, just like when I was little, each year we had one egg that never got found until months later.

This year Easter came late among the stresses of life, and I wondered aloud if the Easter Bunny still came to a house with teenagers. Those teenagers were horrified at the thought that he didn't, and so Saturday morning the Easter Bunny was at Target collecting all the goodies that would go inside the "M" and the "D" eggs. And as the bunny drove back to her warren, she thought about how she would miss these traditions when the teenagers were grown and gone, and suddenly the bunny was happy to hide eggs and celebrate the day.

The Easter Bunny also included the dog, something that has gone on since the dog arrived at our house, but this year he got his own "E" eggs and his own hiding spots.  He was thrilled. He followed the girls around the entire house (the bunny branched out this year) searching for his eggs. He was quite the little seeker.

He would wander past an area and then stop and sniff. He would back up and look around and look around and sniff and sniff and then pounce he would have his egg. Which he would take in his mouth and work it until it popped open to reveal the dog treat inside. Delicious!

So the thrill of Easter and the eggs, which started for me as a youngster and was renewed as a mother, has once again gained ground as a dog owner. I can now alert the Easter Bunny to the fact that my dog enjoys the hunt and perhaps next year I can find him a bonnet. Or, since he is a male, perhaps a tie or an Easter like collar?

Happy Easter everyone!