Surprise! A blog post from me! I really want to blog more often. I just get so busy or have nothing interesting to blog about.
Easter Sunday is coming in just a few days. Some prefer to call it Resurrection Sunday. To each, his own. Whichever you call it, it's the day we celebrate the resurrection of Christ. There are also bunnies & egg hiding involved but there's no connection. Nothing against it necessarily. It's just the truth. They have nothing to do with Christ.
It's very important to me & Jeremy that we teach Shaylin what this day is about. We don't want her to think it's about a bunny or eggs.
Last year we didn't give her an Easter basket. But she was only 3 months old so we didn't see the point. We did get her a new dress. Any excuse to get a little girl a new dress!
But now she's older. She still doesn't grasp the concept of this time of year. She doesn't know who Jesus is or what He did for her. She does have another new dress, one that's much more frilly than last year's. And today I'll look for new shoes to wear with it.
But then there's the rest of the tradition. Do we do the basket & eggs & give her a stuffed bunny or baby chick?
At one time, long before Shaylin came along, we had considered not telling our children about Santa. We weren't switching the letters around to spell "Satan" or thinking Santa is evil. Our fear (at that time) was that we'd be lying to our children. We thought, if our children learn that we lied for years about a fat guy that gives presents, how would they believe us when we tell them about Jesus? We finally decided that we wouldn't deny that part of Shaylin's childhood. If she believes in Santa then so be it. We just won't put more emphasis on Santa. And when she's older & learns that there isn't a Santa Claus I don't think she's going to hate us & lose all trust in us. Afterall, if she comes to a saving knowledge of Christ, it will have nothing to do with anything we ever say to her. It will all be because of the grace & power of God.
But Easter just seems different. Maybe it's because the idea of a rabbit (I imagine a giant one, like what you'll see at the mall) hopping around leaving baskets full of candy, toys, & that annoying "grass" just seems silly. But I want those traditional pictures of my children dressed up holding their Easter baskets. And I want to paint eggs with them. Maybe even hide them. But all just for fun.
So I'm torn. Right now we probably still won't do anything this year since Shaylin wouldn't be eating any candy anyway. But she's growing up & at some point we have to make a decision.
Patrick and I talked about this before having kids as well, and at the time he said we wouldn't lie to our kids. But after having her and when those holidays came we decided that we didn't want Sophia to feel left out or that she missed something important during her childhood. So we enjoy the seasons without stressing about it and to just have fun but also emphasize the true meaning which she doesn't understand just yet. But she can still enjoy the holidays that way and she knows something is different about this time of year! I think it is good to have a balance of having fun and realizing the importance of the holidays as well... Just my take! By the way, we call it Resurrection Sunday also and Sophia is getting a small basket! (Not that basket matters though.)
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