Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!

I hope everyone’s Easter was fun.  We had a blast.  We went to the lake and spent the night on Good Friday.  Saturday morning we woke up early and went to the playground for an Easter Egg Hunt.  It was Coop’s second hunt, but his first hunt with other children as competition.  He did great- he got lots of eggs– even scored the “prize egg”.

He didn’t sit by shyly while other kids snatched up all the goodies, but he didn’t shove their face into the gravel and steal their eggs, either.  He struck a good, healthy balance.

I love this action series of Cooper and this precious little girl eyeing the same egg.

You see who got it.

Later the Easter Bunny showed up in a Fire Truck and gave out candy.

Even later, Coop had to take a call from one of his homies:

Before we had a kid, Dave always lamented about how we weren’t going to tell our kids lies about Santa and the Easter Bunny, etc.  I agree, though I want to encourage imagination and dramatic play.   I have suggested we use phrases such as “Legend has it. . . ,” or “When I was little, I was told that . . ”

The other day Dave said he wanted to tell the truth about Easter and the Easter Bunny.

Okay, how’s this. . .

The Easter Bunny and most Easter traditions have their origins in pre-Christian times.  The word “Easter” is thought to come from the Teutonic “Ostern” or “Eastre,” the pagan spring Goddess of fertility and renewal, who was celebrated on the day of the vernal equinox. Death and rebirth of both the food crops and the woman’s fertility cycle (the “Estrous” cycle) was a common theme.  At this festival, the rabbit/hare, a symbol of fertility, leaves gifts of brightly colored eggs (also a symbol of fertility) for the children.

When Christians were “encouraging” Pagans to convert to Christianity, they wanted to make the holidays familiar and appealing,  so they incorporated pagan traditions.

Oh.  Wait.  Maybe that isn’t what Dave meant.