MEMORIES OF EASTER.

Easter is coming but there’s no infectious eggcitement in our house. It’s not like the good ole days when the sons were cute cherubs and Easter egg hunts ruled.

When the boys were young we all totally got into the spirit of Easter, there was always plenty of chocolate, hot cross buns slathered in butter, salmon on the bbq, family catch ups and lots of chocolate.

Oh yeah I shopped for Easter eggs for weeks before the big day and there was always the mandatory ‘Humpy Dumpty’ egg and football egg and whatever was the go that particular year.

Sometimes it was a ‘whizz fizz’ egg, ‘willy wonky’,’tellytubbies’, ‘cricket’, ‘AFL egg’, ‘matchbox’…you name it we had it! We would leave a carrot out with a glass of milk, because yeah we all know rabbits drink milk (not). Before bed we would gnaw at the carrot and spit the chomped bit into the garden then head inside to do the most important bit…footprints!

Yes, there’s an art to great footprints. We trialled many ways of leaving the best footprint then found if you sift icing sugar over a thong you get a great footprint. We would then line up coins for bunny toes and sift icing sugar over them. Yeah…it’s some bloody giant bunny but we all know the ‘Easter Bunny’ is a super sized dude!

When the boys were preschoolers Easter was about making necklace from macaroni, we would colour the macaroni with food colouring and thread ribbon through to make a pretty necklace that always left me with a red, green or blue neck from the colour transfer.

I oohed and ahhed over the bunny ears and artwork that invariably came home from kindy or school, cotton wool balls are good for so many things.

I purchased hot cross buns from the school fundraisers and donated eggs to the class raffle baskets. Sometimes I would win a basket which was awesome because hey presto it was a ready done gift for someone.

Egg hunts in the backyard with clues written on little notes entertained the boys and gave us a laugh as they excitedly put their heads together working on the clues and then jumped for joy when they found an egg…victory!!

Somewhere between kindy and high school things changed. Raising children is tiring, fulfilling, amazing and fun…and then before you know it life changs and it’s almost over.

These days my boys are young men…one is six foot four and macaroni necklaces and egg hunts are lost on him. There’s no giddy excitement at the crack of dawn checking the stash left behind by the Easter Bunny. There’s no egg hunts or icing sugar footprints. There’s no artwork in the school bags or fundraiser forms to fill in.

Do I miss it? Truthfully…I kinda do.

Kids are little for such a little amount of time, and that innocent ‘make believe world’ that brings joy, excitement and anticipation is short lived. I revelled in it when we lived through that stage, Easter is one of my favourite times of year and creating those traditions was important to me…it was about creating memories.

These days some traditions remain, I get busy making brownies because hot cross buns just ain’t what they used to be and damnit where’s a primary school fundraiser form when you need one?! The boys receive a huge Haighs foil wrapped frog and a Humpty Dumpty egg because they are old enough to appreciate good chocolate but young enough to still wanna shake the smarties in the Humpty Dumpty egg. Then there’s the competition to see who can flatten the foil wrapper smoother…damn those acrylic nails!

There’s no family catch ups because shit goes down in families and well…we’re all so different and at different stages. My 2 boys and the mister…’we’ are family and thankfully we really like each other so we head out for a picnic or a meal for a few hours then home to enjoy chocolate and afternoon napping. Seriously afternoon naps are gold right?!

Childhoods are fleeting and unless you’ve created traditions that in turn help to create memories then it can be difficult to remember those little chubby hands as they hold a chocolate bunny wrapped in colourful foil.

It can be difficult to remember counting out the macaroni pieces for a special Easter necklace.

It can be difficult remembering those afternoon naps with 2 little boys…one blonde and one brunette with chocolate covered mouths and full tummies.

It can be difficult remembering the excitement of little boys as they triumphantly greet you at the school gate with a raffle hamper the size of a basketball, fresh from assembly and ‘hi-fives’ from their mates because after all they were now the ‘chocolate kings’!
Yup, childhoods go quickly and making the time to be present or to sit and call on those memories is important. Just because my kids are now young men shouldn’t mean that all traditions should be left at the school gate.

I still decorate the house with Easter decorations and leave mini eggs everywhere. Of course they get their Easter goodies but this year I think I’m gonna add something into the mix…I’m getting the icing sugar and the thong out and I’m also going to create a card with cotton wool…because bunnies on cards need cotton wool ball tails.

Do you have a favourite Easter memory from your childhood? Mine was the heavily decorated candy egg my Nan would send every year, who remembers those? It was so ornate and pretty and sometimes had heart shaped candy inside. I would spend time staring at the prettiness, licking the hard shell and then eventually I would crack it open and suck on the pieces.

Are your kids still little? What’s your favourite traditions to enjoy with them. Maybe you don’t have children…how do you celebrate?

There’s a little kid in all of us that’s itching to flatten the foil wrapping and see if the bunny ate the carrot I reckon…and don’t even get me started on Santa and the tooth fairy! Oh the lies we have fun with…a little bit of make believe is ok with me.

Do you have a favourite holiday?

Til next time,

Jen x

Ps my friend Sam from The Annoyed Thyroid loves to bake and she whipped up these speckled eggs hot cross buns. You can find the recipe HERE.