I Might Get in Trouble for This One
I have previously mentioned that I don't get the commercialization of Easter. I'm not what you would call a religious person, and yet I'm all guilt-ridden just thinking about using Jesus' resurrection as an excuse to consume massive quantities of chocolate. (Just so we're clear, I frankly don't need an excuse to consume massive quantities of chocolate and tend to do it on days of the week that end in "y.") I just don't get how you go from "Praise, Jesus!" to "Praise, candy! And toys! And other crap!"
But.
Mr. Husband? He was ALL in favor of buying the kid random junk in celebration of Easter. After weeks of asking him, "Really? You really think Jesus rose so Alexis could get a bike?" I realized something.
I seem to be alone in this anti-commercialized Easter thing.
If you can't beat them, join them. Right?
So, I went out and bought the kid some candy, dug up a basket, and even procured some plastic eggs. Then I told Mr. Husband to add whatever he wanted, just so long as it wasn't a bike. (The only wheels that go with Jesus belong on the hotrod that he built, yo.)
This morning the Easter Bunny snuck outside and hid a bunch of candy-filled eggs in our yard. She was all sorts of clever and carefully balanced one on the handle of our front door, so the second Alexis glanced at the door, she spotted the egg and knew she should go explore outside.
The hunt was on.
People, I have to admit something. Something I very rarely admit, because it almost never happens.
I was wrong.
This commercialized Easter stuff? ROCKS!
Watching Alexis hunt high and low for eggs was A BLAST. The kid couldn't find her nose if it weren't attached to her face (I am to blame for those stunningly awesome genetics), so I made it all very obvious. STILL FUN. I'm not just saying that because she's not a big candy eater either. I mean, that is a spectacular bonus in the whole thing (hello, Reese's Peanut Butter eggs--can we be life long friends?). Genuinely, it was a lot of fun watching her run around the yard with Cody two steps behind her as she tried to find the eggs.
So, let's review. Caving to the weirdness that is the Easter Bunny will get you: 1.) LOTS of candy. The kid is only interested in the super sour jelly beans, so I get all the Mini Cadbury Eggs and Reese's Peanut Butter eggs. 2.) Lots of entertainment as you watch the kid search high and low for the hidden eggs. The entertainment will only get better as the kid gets older because I will get to be more and more evil while hiding the eggs. She's going to be BEGGING me for a map in just a few years.
What I couldn't figure out was what was in it for Mr. Husband. I can guarantee that the man will find his way to a candy clearance aisle or two or ten in record time, acquiring every sort of Easter candy there is to be had. He won't need to steal Alexis' candy. He couldn't have known that Alexis would enjoy the egg hunting as much as she did. Really he was mostly interested in her basket. The basket which he filled. With these:
Those two items which made Alexis VERY VERY HAPPY are a High School Musical DVD and a High School Musical game. Not only was Mr. Husband more than willing to purchase those items, he was waaaay more than willing to help Alexis with the game, and then later asked Alexis if she wanted to watch the movie for a second time. He missed most of the first showing, and he said he WANTED TO SEE SOME OF IT.
I'm beginning to think that Jesus was risen from the dead so that Mr. Husband could watch Zac Efron's thrusting pelvis. Just sayin'.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Reader Comments (37)
bwahahahahahahahaha!!!!
i KNEW there had to be an ulterior motive here!!
(oh... and FIRST!!)
A Burgh Baby post with a Ministry reference pretty much has to be the best Burgh Baby post of all time.
Welcome to the Dark Side. We've been waiting for you.
;-)
The shift from Jesus rising from the dead to rabbits to hiding eggs has never made sense, but if it makes children happy and doesn't cost all the money you currently have in your bank, I say go for it.
Yeah, Mr. Husband is clever. Zac Efron scares me, though.
Are you sure he is not checking out sassy Ashley Tisdale? I do enjoy me a little Zac Efron (to the disgust of my girls) although I am old enough to be his mother.
Candy every day is a good thing! Welcome to the crazy world of kid based holidays!
I'm right with you on refusing to commercialize Easter. Or at least I was until I saw the toddler-sized Penguin jersey and needed a reason to buy it. Then I went all hypocrite and stuff.
Glossing right over the fact that Mr. H now officially scares me a little, the whole Easter thing is just messed up in many ways. What does coloring eggs have to do with Jesus' resurrection? Or eggs at all for that matter? And yet, here we are, coloring eggs, eating candy, filling baskets...
Mr. H may be the only one watching HSM though.
Welcome to the insanity! I love that Cody was participating in the egg hunt.
HA! This stuff always reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's bit about the holidays... none of the commercialization makes any sense, but it is so fun anyway.
Looks like Alexis had a blast! Happy Easter!
I had the same problem with Easter baskets but we ARE religious. Solved it by celebrating Easter's meaning on Easter, then the following weekend the 'Candy Bunny' comes to our house. Bonus is that the candy is usually half-off starting today. The discount helps out when you have a houseful of children.
I swear my husband loves Easter - and he is an atheist so you know it isn't about celebrating Jesus' resurrection. Our first Easter together, he put together a basket for me and hid it in my apartment. Crap, I'm going to go blog it cuz I got nothing else to talk about today. LOL
Anyway, glad that you had fun with eggs and that whole HSM thing could get some mileage in the form of blackmail (against hubby).
OK...I was with you all the way up to High School Musical. Now I'm a little scared...
Why does the commercialization of Easter bother you, but not Christmas?
Rising from the dead should actually be a bigger deal than a birthday. Lights and decorations seem justified.
Awesome post! I totally get why the whole bunnies/hiding and coloring eggs and Jesus's Resurrection was blurred into a blended holiday. Its a history lesson to be sure! I agree to the not understanding why we get the toys and loot as if we were stuffing Christmas stockings for our little ones, but I am guilty as everyone else.
And the map that you will want to create when your children get older? HAh! I wish we had one this year! We have 2 missing. Can't remember where I hid them. I am a good hider!
Glad you had a fabulous Easter!
First, my soapbox: the "commercialization of Easter" involves symbolism--those eggs and stuff--just like Christmas has its trees and stuff.
Second, I hate coloring eggs, and am happyhappyhappy to hand that task off to the supervision of others.
The commercialization of Easter is still WAAAAYYYY less than Christmas! and, of course, SPRING being Eastery and all, I enjoy Easter more than Christmas.
EB never goes crazy in the baskets at our house--a movie, a book, a toy of some sort is way better than scads of candy. Of course, the EB also always brings the candy the 'rents like too.
This year, though, the Howler LICKED all the chocolate bunnies, regardless of PB or caramel filling. She didn't want 'em, but by gum, nobody else was gonna eat 'em either.
I didn't take you for a Ministry kind of girl...
(Hi I totally lurk here)
I? Am CRYING here!
Praise Candy!
And Zac's thrusting pelvis? Totally in the new testament, isn't it? Must confirm that with Sweetie Pie, he's the one who has actually read the bible.
Cough, cough.
Oh? And in our house? Bunny dude only comes when people are at Church.
Because I didn't want to hide the eggs, have Little Man find one (unlikely, since like Alexis he can't find squat and hides in THE SAME SPOT EVERY SINGLE TIME WE PLAY H&S) and refuse to leave the house when we were on a tight schedule to meet my in-laws for church.
See, how me, the unreligious person managed to tie the commercialism of it to the religious piece of it?
Yeah, I know, I'm weird...
@Susan--It's the history of how things came to be linked that confuses me more than anything. I think I have an easier time understanding how Santa Claus became tied to Christmas because of the concept of gifts (Wise Men = gifts, Santa = gifts). The symbolism behind the Easter bunny/eggs is fertility, and I just can't figure out how that got tied to Easter.
@Ashley--Thanks for delurking! Ministry isn't in my Top 5 bands list right now, but they might have been about 15 years ago. My high school best friend was all Ministry, all the time. I was all Nine Inch Nails, all the time. Still would be, if Trent Reznor would be so kind as to create some kid-friendly music.
It's a good thing I have a little love for Pop, since that's what is a bit more Alexis-friendly.
My son loves the sour stuff, too. I like it, too, but hubby won't touch the stuff.
My favorite Easter candies are Brach's Chicks and Bunnies (I may be the only one) and of course peanut butter eggs.
Yes, I could certainly be best friends with peanut butter eggs. Wish I had some left. Love these pics... Happy Easter! : )
Resee's Eggs and I have been friends for a long time. They are the best candy ever. I don't get the connection between Jesus, candy, and egg laying rabbits either but it sure is fun.
For the last two years, we've been hiding plastic eggs in plain site at my parents so all the toddlers can find them. We don't even put anything in them, and they love to look for them! It's so adorable. And my girl is the youngest and has to have most of them pointed out to her, but still loves it when she "finds" one!
As for the connection... Most of the commercialization aspects come from the pagan/celtic religions (Christmas tree and lights, Easter eggs and bunnies) and the Christian holidays were dated to coincide with those holidays and incorporate aspects so that it would be easier to convert people to Christianity. The eggs do celebrate fertility and birth, which is tied to the rebirth of everything in the Spring, which got tied to the death/rebirth of Jesus. That's the basics of how it happened, at least, as best as I can understand/explain it (as if you asked me). :-)
So, I made my mom hide Easter eggs so that we could find them. I even got my grandma and my aunt to join in the egg hunting fun. The youngest person in our family right now is 18. Who says you can't have fun when your older? It's no fun being handed a bag of mini cadbury eggs, you have to go find them. Those mini cadbury eggs are my favorite. I look forward to Easter every year because of those addicting little chocolaty goodness eggs. Oh, and because Jesus rose from the dead, but he knows I would never forget him. The mini cadbury eggs need reminded how much I love them.
(My husband had to remind me that Easter is not "I get to eat chocolate day", I knew that:))
I laugh at Mr H. And, wow that she's already into HSM. You should totally hit Target for the 50% off HSM Easter grass (seriously) and eggs.
Who exactly did Mr. H buy HSM for? Is Alexis really that into Zac and Vanessa? lol! Love the look on her face with her new movies. We hid eggs too. It is fun when they run around looking for them. You gotta love it. How the bunny and hunting for eggs got tied into Jesus I'll never know. ;-)
I really didn't give a hoot about easter either, until I saw the smile on the face of the kid when he found the first one...it was all downhill from there. I LOVE easter!
You admitted you were wrong?! I have to sit down. Now just imagine what you missed, freezing your butt off at the official Easter egg hunt last weekend! (It was 52 this time - much nicer!)
Bahaha! That is hilarious.
I don't get the Easter thing, but now that I've read why you love it? I can totally imagine enjoying every minute of Alex searching all over the place for little plastic things full of chocolate.
Dude . . . great minds think alike. I feel the same way, and only this year did I actually break down and do baskets for the kids. But seeing the pictures everyone has posted of their children hunting for eggs and reading about how much fun they had? Uncle. Next year we will be hunting for eggs.
I'm all out of mini eggs. Please send reinforcements.
That was too funny and the pictures were great. At our church, the lady that does the little children's thing where the kids go down to the front and hear a story tried to connect the plastic egg to the tomb of Jesus. All the parents laughed at her. Loudly.
great pictures! My kids spent easter moping b/c we dont participate. But mom EVERYONE else got easter bunny baskets- harumphh!
and dude, this confirms it, EVERYONE did!
I also disagree with the commercialization of Easter, but did have fun with Jonathan and egg hunting. I just make sure the real message gets through to him with trips to church (and of course chocolate crosses. Kidding! I hope I don't get struck down!)
I used to hide the kids Easter Baskets in the house. They liked that.
I am catholic. We used to go to St. Pauls Cathedral Easter Sunday in the afternoon when the Bishop blesses families.
We needed all the help we could get!
Growing up in a notveryreligious family, I was all about the Easter basket, the eggs and the candy. I don't get the BIG GIFT thing, like the bikes though. We never got stuff like that and I think that is a bit much. The "bunny" in our house tends to stick to small gifts, like games, books, videos, etc. I loved my daughter's question though this year "What does the Easter Bunny have to do with Jesus' ressurection?" She's only eight but sure loves to throw those curveballs at me now and again!
You know, my parents actually used to hide the eggs in the house, and tear up newspaper and leave little patch trails to the eggs, but would overlap my trail over my sister's in order to "confuse" us. So, we'd wake up, and go running all through the house, following the trails to the eggs. At the very end of the trail was our basket. It was a blast.