bye, bye, bunny

This is the year that I finally stopped being the Easter Bunny. No jelly beans. No plastic eggs. No chocolate shaped like eggs and bunnies. Not even a single pack of Peeps. With a twelve year old and a fourteen year old, we really should have stopped a while ago, but I always felt guilty if I didn't have something for the kids on Easter. Hunting for eggs and receiving a chocolate bunny were always fun as a child, and I wanted them to have that memory, too. But it seemed like the time was right to stop this tradition in our household ... plus, I had neglected to buy anything for them, since I've been a bit distracted lately.

Fortunately, my kids didn't mind. And, as an added bonus, my daughter Mika shared an Easter memory with us.

I remember one time we had a Easter egg hunt in the living room, and one of the eggs had a dinosaur in it. And then we went skiing. And when we went through the drive-thru at McDonald's, the guy said, "Happy Easter!" or something like that.

Really? Are you sure it wasn't some imposter-Mom who had her act together enough to make sure you got an Easter egg hunt in at 5:30 am before we left for the slopes? I had virtually no independent memory of the Easter ski day she described, but I was sure she was right about it all. It was a coincidence that she would mention this, since if the weather had cooperated today, we were planning on spending our Easter morning driving up to Tahoe for our own sunrise service, communing with nature. Unfortunately, the forecast was not looking very good for skiing, and we had plenty of other things to attend to today, although none were Easter-related.

Thank goodness my daughter has some positive memories about my attempts at celebrating this holiday, even if it has been wiped from my own memory! It's nice to know that these little details are locked away somewhere in her mind. Maybe she'll put a dinosaur in some child's Easter egg someday.

UPDATE: I couldn't resist the 50% off Easter candy at the store today. Picked up a chocolate-covered Peeps and some little Dove bunnies and eggs. My kids were quite excited about it, so I think I may have just started a new family tradition!