Easter has come and gone. Over 2000 years ago, Friday was an excruciatingly sad day for believers but every day we can have hope because Sunday came.
This is my favorite depiction of what Easter is about. This video was played during an Easter service at our church in Charlotte several years ago and it really spoke to me. It still gives me tingles today.
Daniel and I have been having a lot of discussions lately about what holidays should look like for our family. What traditions do we want to start or continue? What commercial aspects do we buy into? What things do we let go?
This Easter it was just Daniel, Jack and I. We didn't do anything special besides go out to eat. We were about the only people eating at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants (not typical fare for Easter!).
I did have a moment when I felt a small twinge of guilt yesterday. It was during the "meet and greet" part of our church service. A woman (someone's grandma) was sitting next to me asked Jack (really me) if the Easter bunny had come that morning? I told her no and felt a bit awkward.
...Crickets...
Daniel and I struggle with telling Jack about the Easter Bunny (or Santa Claus) because they aren't real. They are fictional characters.
On the one hand, we don't want Jack to grow up feeling gypped about his childhood. On the other hand, we want to emphasize what these holidays are really about. Easter Sunday is about hope and triumph over evil in our risen Savior.
I have read about how some parents choose to tell their children that Santa and the Easter Bunny are pretend, and a part of the game is to not tell other kids that these characters are make believe. I think that in the future, this is an idea that Daniel and I can work with. We can share in the fun of fictional characters without having to go against our consciousness by pretending that these characters are real.
If you are a parent that loves the Easter Bunny (or Santa), I don't want you to feel like I think any differently of you. I think we all parent differently and I respect how you choose to do things. Really, I do. I will do my best to encourage my child not to accidently break the news to your child :)
We will probably never do gifts from Santa or the Easter Bunny, but we will participate in other fun parts of these holidays like Easter Egg hunts. We may even go visit these characters at the mall. I don't see how that is any different from going to see at Disney character at WDW.
Most importantly I hope that we are doing our best to share with Jack that Easter is about the power of the resurrection of Christ. I hope you had a happy Easter – however you chose to celebrate it with your kids!
With Santa, I've approached t from the true story of who "Saint Nicholas" really was, and what good he wanted to do. Modern day "Santa" was created with Clement Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas." So I have helped them see how we got from there to here. I like guiding my kids into logical thinking and helping them form their own conclusions.
ReplyDeleteThe tooth fairy and the Easter bunny discussions came up when the kids asked about them. We've always done the "tooth fairy" thing, but they've also always known who was really the tooth fairy.
To each their own. I got gifts from Santa and I'm a (moderately) normal, fully functional member of society. :-)
Thanks for your thoughts Wanda!
DeleteI always find it interesting to see how other people do it. I really don't think that there is a right or wrong answer on this subject. This is just how Daniel and I look at it.