Well, if you read my blog, you know by now that I am a bit of a procrastinator.  I am also colossally bad at plan making or really anything that requires any kind of an actual . . . you know . . . decision .  That very word makes me cringe.

This is the part where most of you are expecting me to start running around in a panic when I realize I am entirely unprepared for Easter.

Guess what?

I did prepare.

I KNOW!!!!

What is this world coming to?  You just can't rely on anyone anymore.  People just keep letting you down right?

Seriously.  I came up with a plan.  A PLAN!

See, this year I started doing that thing parents eventually do when they decide that society is going to ruin their kids and they have to fight the influences blah blah blah etc.


I decided that the Easter Bunny is ruining Easter.   Ok, I really didn't decide this now.  I have never been his biggest fan.  I know.  I'm awful.

Growing up we did Easter baskets and sometimes even egg hunts.  We dyed hard boiled eggs, that we were never going to eat, all sorts of pretty colors and added stickers and paint and all sorts of wonders.  Then we kept them until we couldn't stand the rotten egg smell anymore and our mother would dispose of them in secret because they were just way too pretty to throw away!!

Eventually some friends showed us the most magical wondrous trick.  Poke a hole in the top and bottom of the eggs when you use them and save them throughout the year.  Then you have hollow eggs to decorate and can actually keep them.  My mother still has a bowl of Easter eggs in her china cabinet.  Inside along with our eggs other is an egg that was given to us by those friends.

Anyway we did baskets and eggs but never the Bunny.  I don't know, I just kind of like it that way.  Not that I am criticizing anyone who loves the Easter Bunny and chooses to pass on that tradition.  You know what works for you and your kids.  I just want to pass on the tradition I received of not focusing on the Bunny.  I feel like that might make it a little easier to teach my children about Easter as the religious holiday.  You know the one where we celebrate the fact that our Saviour conquered death and rose from the grave to give us the gift of eternal life.  That Easter.

I am just struggling with how to keep that as the focus for toddlers who get way more excited about candy than church.

So, I came up with a plan.  It was helped along by the fact that my kids are obsessed with Veggie Tales and there is a new Easter Veggie Tales out.

Yes, I do see the bunny and the irony is not lost on me.

I decided that rather than fill their baskets full of candy, I would fill them with religious themed items relating to Easter.  I even remembered seeing chocolate crosses (instead of bunnies) last year.  Last year I was obsessed with the Peter Rabbit bunnies because that was my son's nursery theme.  Chocolate crosses would be perfect because then they would still get a little candy.  I'm not an entirely mean mom! ;)

I figured I would give them the Veggie Tales DVD, some books about Easter, (bonus getting to read about Easter) the chocolate crosses and some other little Easter related things.  A plan!

Now, here's the reason I don't like to make plans.  They never seem to work out according to . . . well . . . PLAN!

It doesn't help that both of the Christian bookstores in the city closed awhile back.  Or, that if I ever try to go anywhere new I get hopelessly lost.  Shouldn't be a problem, I thought.  I will find things at the regular stores.  Ha!

I did find the Veggie Tales DVD.  The books were a little more challenging.  There were tons of Easter books.  All about the Bunny.  Ok, there were a few Easter story books that were you know about the Jesus Easter.  I just really didn't want to spend $10 on a tiny 5 page board book.  Sigh.

Then I remembered that the only Bible my kids have is the beat up board book Baby's First Bible I bought for my son when he was baptized.  I meant to buy one for my daughter at her baptism too but never quite got around to it.  *hangs head in shame*  
So, I bought them each a Bible.  (Bible storybook, they are toddlers.)



And crafting stuff because we really should do more crafty stuff.

Ok, moment of weakness.