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Leanne Shirtliffe

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What Easter Looks Like With Tweens

Easter looks different—perhaps even better—when your kids are older, not passing out in parental-induced sugar comas. This past weekend, I found myself remembering Easters of years past. There was the time (last year) when the Easter Bunny hid chocolate eggs in the dishwasher … and I discovered this after the 140-Fahrenheit water ran through it.

This year, Easter celebrations promised little out of the ordinary. As usual, my husband was selling stuff to people in superhero costumes and to those who use shoe polish to cover up male-pattern baldness.

But the day before—on Easter Eve—Vivian and William, now ten years old, declared their disbelief in the Easter Bunny.

I texted my mom:

Easter Bunny is a sham

I gave in to their chocolate demands before the tension escalated.

As a parent, I approach Easter like I do Advent and Christmas: last minute, low key, and likely less religious-y than it should be. My logic is something like this: (1) If I ignore the holiday, it won’t exist. Something like a tree falling in the forest, but I tend to ignore that analogy too because I don’t really understand it. (2) If I wait long enough to buy things for the holiday-du-jour, the things will go on sale. Ergo, I will save money. Of course, this logic is quickly dismissed by burning gas to get to four supermarkets. No matter.

Sunday morning came. My husband had gone to hock dead people’s stuff at the flea market. My kids woke me up.

“Can we go hunt for the eggs that you left us?” they asked.

“Do I have to get up?”

“No, you can stay in bed.”

“Okay.”

Time passed.

My daughter woke me up. Again. “Can you come downstairs?”

“Can’t I sleep longer?”

“It’s 8:35.”

“Oh.” This parenting gig was hard.

My daughter pulled the blankets off of me. She knew that the only thing I liked less than getting out of bed was being cold.

I climbed downstairs.

“We did an Easter Egg hunt for you! You have to find 28 eggs.”

I fake smiled, imagining hunting for eggs until Christmas. I looked wearily toward the dishwasher.

“Can you plug in the kettle for me?” I asked. Tea. Must have tea.

She did.

I kicked an egg.

“Open it!” Vivian said.

I’d forgotten where William was at this point.

“Open it!” she repeated.

I opened the plastic egg. I saw a tiny handwritten note, printed in Grade 5 penmanship.

“There’re 27 more!”

And so there were.

Easter with Tweens Egg Hunt

Who needs the Easter Bunny?

Filed Under: Funny Family Moments

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Linda Targett says

    April 6, 2015 at 9:37 am

    Now if you can just get them to do everyone’s stocking at Christmas…! Seriously,a lovely thing for them to do..and just shows how they’ve been shown the spirit of the season..albeit with slightly wild eyes and clenched teeth at times!

    Reply
  2. Lorraine says

    April 6, 2015 at 6:33 pm

    Leanne, this is one of my favorite posts ever. What a wonderful pair of varmints those two are.

    Reply
  3. Jan Moyer says

    April 6, 2015 at 8:54 pm

    Leanne! You are raising some sweet and thoughtful kids. Nicely done.

    Reply
  4. Janice aka Mom says

    April 7, 2015 at 12:14 pm

    You gotta love those grandkids of mine!!!

    Reply
  5. Bill says

    April 8, 2015 at 8:01 am

    Been quite a while since I’ve commented here, Leanne Nice to have you back. Great last word.

    Bill

    Reply
  6. Bonnie says

    April 9, 2015 at 10:49 am

    I was moved to tears by the sweetness of the gesture. Kids have the sweetest hearts. You can tell, they are well loved. Way to go!

    Reply
  7. Kyla @ Mommy's Weird says

    April 12, 2015 at 8:26 pm

    CRYING.

    Reply
  8. Ted Henkie says

    May 3, 2015 at 10:48 am

    My eyes got really watery reading this, probably from all the dust in my studio. 🙂
    Seriously, Leanne this was a very touching post.
    Thank you for sharing what will be a treasured Easter memory with us.

    Reply

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