Easter

I think that Easter 2011 will go on record as the first holiday that Sam really "got." Now to be fair, he certainly does not understand that Christ died and rose again to save us from our sins, but he does understand that there is candy to be had if you can get to those eggs!

Several weeks ago we received an invitation to a toddler Easter Egg Hunt. I wanted Sam to have some clue what was going on, so we checked out "Spot's First Easter" from the local library and read it a lot. It was a cute book, but I really think all he needed was to be told that all of the eggs needed to be collected and that would be that. We gave instructions and set him free, and he was a man on a mission. Much like when he works hard to scoop up ALL the sand on the beach, he wouldn't stop until all the eggs were gone.

And then he figured out that there were prizes inside. Some of them had candy, some had bouncy balls, some little animals, some stickers. All treasures to an almost-two-year-old. He spent the rest of the day asking to "see eggs?"

And yes, my son collected Easter Eggs in a reusable shopping bag, because Mommy left his cute little blue gingham basket next to the front door. Oops.

Saturday night it was time to prepare for our own visit from the Easter Bunny. To my surprise, he was very into the egg-dying process. He watched me do one, and that was it. "Sam do it!" was all I heard for the rest of the project. With each egg he took a moment to tap it on the edge of the cup, just like Mommy does when she is baking. Then he plopped them in the die and immediately went in to retrieve them. Patience is not his gift...no idea where he gets that. He was SO SAD when they were all done. "More gye! More gye!"

We had a wonderful worship on Easter morning, but don't go looking for any pictures of us all fancied up in our Easter finest - we forgot to take one. This was our first holiday that we celebrated as a nuclear family. No friends, no family, no brunch buffet. Just the three of us and a Honeybaked Ham. It was laid back and lovely. After nap we did Sam's personal egg hunt - this time he was more focused on the treats inside than collecting them all as fast as possible.

Don't judge me when I tell you that my son ate candy for both breakfast and dinner on Easter.

It was really fun to see him enjoy the holiday so much. It made me even more aware of how much he has grown up even in just the last few months - he was still pretty much clueless at Christmas. I can't wait to teach him more about the real reason for all the celebration as he continues to grow.