There's a blog carnival going on this week over at BecomingMe. It's a chance to post your favorite Easter story, recipe, craft, tradition or whatever else you can think of relating to this holiday.
I have a funny Easter story, but first I have a really great idea I want to share.
We're one of those families that the Easter bunny visits. I have many friends who don't receive such a visit because they've chosen to keep this holiday focused on Christ. I get that. I've even toyed with that idea, but honestly John and I think the Easter bunny is fun. So here's how we handle it:
The Easter bunny visits our house on Friday night. My husband was a pastor for years and years and years. Sunday mornings were hard enough without throwing candy and toys into the mix. Someone at a MOPS meeting gave me the idea to bump the Easter Bunny's visit up a night and let the kids enjoy a leisurely Saturday digging through their baskets, eating their candy, and enjoying all their goodies. The result is that we're able to keep Easter morning focused on Jesus.
The rule in our house is that you can eat all the candy you want on Saturday. My kids LOVE this rule. I'm the sugar sheriff most of the time so when they have license to eat candy...you better believe they go crazy. Which leads me to the funny Easter story I was going to share.
It was written by my humorous husband a couple of years ago on Easter Sunday.
Bad Saturday
I left yesterday for work about 10:00. By that time, our kids had been eating jelly beans for about three hours. Mer had given them the "today, I don't care" green light to eat their Easter candy with abandon. I later learned that for lunch, and we'll focus in on Sarah here, she ate 10 chicken nuggets from Chik-Fil-A and french fries. You totaling all this up? After lunch, the kids dyed eggs. Meredith boiled 24 eggs and by the time I got home, there were three left on the counter. When I inquired about this, she said, "Well, Sarah ate 7 boiled eggs this afternoon. And then she blew." Yes, death and resurrection in the Lifeat7000Feet household on bad Saturday. I tried to step back into the flow of the house, but realized there was no flow to step into, but there was something else to step into; and there was more to come. One more upchuckin' two-step occurred about an hour after I got home. There was this cry, like a stuck Easter bunny, from the hall: "Bring the bowl." But Sarah managed to strategically hit the floor between the bowl and the toilet bowl. Bullseye! There ain't much on a Easter-eve evening, when you're trying to prepare yourself for the holy hallelujahs of Sunday morning, than to have to clean up the remains of the day. But that's life - cleaning out the muck of the stalls, literally and figuratively. Sarah finally fell asleep from a post-jelly-bean-chicken-nugget-boiled-egg intestinal roller coaster ride in the middle of Saturday Night Live. She was o.k. this morning and when asked in Sunday school if she wanted any jelly beans, she resolutely answered, "No thanks." You go to sleep some nights wondering just what in the world keeps your kids alive. Same stuff that always has - God's hands.
Be sure to visit BecomingMe for more Easter stories. And it's not to late to join the carnival! (There's even a prize!)
29 comments:
I had read that story on John's blog a while back and it still makes me laugh. (Not at Sarah puking, but at cleaning up 'the remains of the day')
We do Easter Bunny either Saturday morning or after church on Sunday. And there must be JellyBelly's, even though they're 3x as expensive as the other kind. If you're only going to eat them once a year, make it the good stuff...
That is hysterical!! I like the "cleaning up the remains of the day" part, too!!
Great idea to have the Easter Bunny come on Friday night....going to have to remember that. We usually end up at church with jelly bean juice running down the front of our brand spankin' new sweater vests!! :)
LOL, poor kid!!! I guess she'll know better in the years to come!
Thanks so much for participating!! And I love the tip about doing the bunny stuff on Sat. and leaving Sunday for the Christ Centered part. Wonderful. Thank you.
Wow! I can't believe how much she ate!
We, too, do our Easter baskets early, so it doesn't compete with Easter Sunday.
Loved this, and love the Easter season :o)
I think you may have altered a tradition for us. Especially since my kids are older. Singing in the choir on Easter for 2 services leaves little time for bunny frolic. Last year we had a Saturday Easter brunch with friends. I guess, to me, it's sort of like the sabbath. In our family, sabbath is taken in fits and spurts and on a different day than Sunday, but it's taken. God be with my legalist friends. I'm sure this galls them no end. :)
That's hilarious!
I love the idea of the EB visiting on Saturdays :)!
The story was a hoot!
AAACKK!! Poor thing! She'll probably never look at a jelly bean the same way!
I really like the early celebration of the Bunny! Makes soo much sense! Thanks for the laughter!
Forgot to mention that Sarah is even more endearing to me after this post--and you can't make it thru parenthood, it seems, w/o a blow out in a non-strategic location at least once.
Poor little thing...but that is so funny! Sometimes we have to learn the hard way, and mom really does know best!
Awesome story!! So very funny.
I too allow the kids to eat all the sugar they like two times a year, Christmas morning and Easter Sunday.
I love the idea of doing it on Saturday. There is nothing like sitting next to a sugared-up child in service on Easter Sunday!
Woo Hoo, that is funny.
No. Pretty.
Mer,
I like that idea and will keep it in mind. Monica has opted to celebrate the first day of spring with candy, egg hunt, etc., so we'll see what we choose to do.
This year, Lord willing, we'll be celebrating the first day of spring by holding our new daughter!!
Oh, my gosh!! This is hysterical! Sorry . . . but it is! I'll bet next year there will be a bit of moderation around the candy and boiled eggs:-)
I really really really like the Friday night Easter bunny thing.
Oh, ew.
The sugar sheriff needs to make a stop in this house, pronto!! We do Easter baskets, too... Friday night is a great idea! Do you have a Good Friday service? Do you do the baskets after?
That is just too funny! Wow...that was an Easter to remember for sure! :)
too great!!
I am stealing that title of Sugar Sheriff. That's perfect.
Oh my goodness! I think that would cure me of jelly beans (and eggs!) for the rest of my life....poor thing!
I love the idea, though, of keeping the focus on Jesus on Sunday by doing the whole candy thing on Saturday.
poor things...7 eggs would be bad enough on their own. I would never want another jelly bean
poor things...7 eggs would be bad enough on their own. I would never want another jelly bean
Wow. Pretty hair raising story. The Friday night Easter Bunny thing is interesting. We did the bunny when I was a kid, but we celebrated Jesus too. Now that I am a grown up, we just dont do the bunny. Sammy is still too little to really care, but maybe this is a good idea to tuck away for the future.
I really think that is a cool idea to bump the Easter bunny up a day. I am not sure that will work this year since we always do brunch and an egg hunt at our house after morning service but I think this is something I am going to mention to my husband... I think it is a fantastic idea.
What a great story! And the Easter bunny bump is such a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing!
What a great story! So simply and funnily (what? funnily?) written. I'm catching up on your blog since I couldn't bear to clear it out in my reader. I wasn't going to comment on old posts, but this was too good to pass up. The Saturday morning Easter tradition is perfect. I'm so instituting that this year. Do you know that for the past few years I've been doing the Easter bunny thing solo on Easter Sunday? Lame. Gary's going to be THRILLED with this new development. ;)
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