There is magic in watching your kid's eyes light up with the excitement of approaching holidays. Christmas is by far a favorite, along with the promise of a "killer" Halloween costume, Birthday celebrations...and Easter with the dying of eggs, hiding them and yes, the Easter basket. When it comes to Easter though, we've never placed a lot of emphasis on the Easter bunny, which is fine by me, because when you think about it, it really doesn't make much sense. A lot less than the bearded old white man coming down the chimney at least. On top of that, Will and I have struggled a bit with coming up with our own special traditions. Yes, we've taken and blended some from our own families of origin, but let's just say it's a work in progress. Particularly as we now find ourselves living abroad. As Wyatt gets older, maintaining the farce of people/large animals entering our home remains increasingly difficult. He asks smart questions and while I adore the innocence, how long do you keep it going? He never really questioned Santa, he just accepted (smartly) that gifts appear under the tree. Coupled with the fact that this is not the emphasis we really want to place on these holidays, we just never made a big deal about it. Getting STUFF is just not where we want all the focus to be (Though I would NEVER deny a Cadbury egg. Ever).(And my birthday IS a month long celebration....I however, digress).So this year when Wyatt asked if The Easter bunny was real, Will and I sorta looked at each other and shrugged. Uh.....no. We fill up the baskets. The conversation lasted two seconds and he was not in the least phased by this answer. We continued by reinforcing that the day is about Jesus' love for you, the price he paid and his ressurrection. Done. The basket and gifts are a small way to celebrate the day.
What could we possibly do to show our son how much the Lord loves him? The answer ironically came in our church bulletin the week prior when it was announced that volunteers were being sought to go to the local soup kitchen. What a perfect way for Wyatt to give back, show God's love and give instead of get. As an only child, the boy gets a lot.
For the homeless, as I gradually came to understand, Easter is the time of the year when tables are set up all throughout the street outside of the homeless shelter and there is a hot pot along with rice, beef, chicken, noodles, eggs, and a show put on by local churches. It was heartwarming to see all of the volunteers and that those being served for the most part were gracious, amicable and especially tickled to see the youngest volunteer. I also cannot adequately express just how many people were in attendance and how this would have EVER worked in the US as it did here. It was pretty amazing.
