My poor kids. As I look back on their childhood, I’ve come to realize that Easter, among other holidays, were lets just say… not normal for them.
The night before Easter (after Boy Wonder and Sweet Girl were in bed) I got busy decorating their Easter baskets.
I was armed with toys, raffia, candy and whatever else I could get my hands on. A skill that I learned from my amazing sister-in-law, Lisa during one of our Easter weekends spent at their house. She made my nieces and nephew the best baskets EVER! Their baskets were not only full of goodies but decorated as well! We stayed up until the wee hours of the morning hot gluing, painting, eating chocolate, stuffing and eating more chocolate. Oh how I love eating that stuff. But I will tell you that as much as I love chocolate (my go to are M&Ms), my favorite Easter candy to eat are the Peep’s marshmallow chicks. I just want to give a shout out to Sam Born, the person responsible for making these cute little edibles. My belly thanks you for the deliciousness but my hips do not!
Did you know that Easter eggs were originally called Paschal eggs and that these beautifully painted eggs were shared as gifts amongst women who were visiting the tomb of Jesus? Legend says that when Mary Magdalene brought her cooked eggs to share, they miraculously turned brilliant red when she saw the risen Christ. Isn’t that interesting? And then we decided to add chocolate to the mix. That’s why Easter is the most delicious holiday…according to me, myself and I.
So there’s your history lesson for today.
One Easter we decided to host a bbq/egg hunt. We invited nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, grandparents and some of our closest friends. We had people scattered from here to there and yonder.
After we ate, we brought all of our sweet kiddos inside so the dads could get busy hiding the eggs and the Easter baskets.
Cowboy comes inside to ask me a question-
COWBOY: Where do you want the baskets this year?
ME: Umm, how about up in a tree?
COWBOY: Up in a tree? Can’t we just put them beside a tree like normal parents do?
ME: Why would we do that?
COWBOY: I have no idea. You realize that we have 13 Easter baskets to put “up” in the tree?
ME: Yes Cowboy I realize that. Do I need to do your job for you?
COWBOY: And have you get stuck on a ladder again?
ME: That only happens when I’m near a roof. So if you’re not going to let me do it, stop complaining, grab a ladder and get busy!
Thirty minutes later I release the kids and nearly get knocked to the ground by their excitement to find their special baskets.
Now wouldn’t that make a great headline? “Woman gets trampled to death by a herd of children on Easter”. Sweet Jesus.
Off they excitedly go to begin their hunt.
SWEET GIRL: (talking to Boy Wonder) I wonder where the Easter bunny hid our baskets this year?
BOY WONDER: Well, if dad hid them, they’ll be in normal places. If mom hid them, I’m guessing up in a tree or on top of the playground set.
SWEET GIRL: Yeah, you’re right about that. Do you think other families have a normal parent and a not so normal parent?
BOY WONDER: Probably.
YOUNGER COUSIN #1: (talking to BOY WONDER) Why are our baskets up in a tree? That is so weird. Your Easter Bunny is not normal.
BOY WONDER: You have no idea.
Happy Easter from our “not so normal” family to yours!
’til next Sunday y’all-
xo, Tammy
