Happy Easter! (week 483)

Christopher was sure that the Easter Bunny was going to bring him Shopkins this year.  In fact, it was driving him absolutely crazy having to wait for Easter this year.  I warned him that the Easter Bunny didn't really do that kind of thing--take requests for presents--and that it was unlikely that the Easter Bunny would bring him the limited edition, highly rare, Season 4 Shopkins that he had in mind.  But a 6-year-old is really insistent and it led to arguments and fights between us.  In fact, I got in trouble just about every day in the three weeks that led up to the night before Easter Sunday morning.  Mom and Dad told me to let him have his dream, and to let him believe whatever it was that he wanted to believe.

But I was worried. Although my little brother is super obnoxious almost every minute of every day, I was worried that he would be disappointed on Easter morning.  So I hatched my own plan.  I had been saving my money for some time, and Christopher had spent $20 of his own money to buy me a real football and kicking tee for my birthday that I sleep with at night.  I didn't want him to be disappointed, so I took $10 from my own wallet and wrote Chris a note from the Easter Bunny on a 3X5 card (pretending that I was the Easter Bunny) that indicated (a) I knew he loved Shopkins, and (b) he could use the money attached to go to the store to pick out the Shopkins that he was thinking about.  I also signed it from the Easter Bunny so that he didn't know it was me.  It felt really good, and it gave me some more ideas about what I could do for other people.

Every year, Chris and I learn a little more about the holidays and their significance. I think that Mom and Dad also learn a little more each year as they try to find ways to explain their significance to us.  This year, Chris and I both read the Easter story in the Children's Bible and the real Bible before we got to go hunt Easter eggs in the yard.  Although we were excited to see the Easter Bunny footprints and marshmallows on the sidewalk outside; we had fun at Ron and Karen's with Eli and Sophi finding the Golden Egg; and we loved the candy, lots of candy; the story of Jesus dying on the cross for his friends and rising from the dead made a lot more sense this year.  It was a great Easter Sunday as a family.  He is Risen.  He is Risen indeed!