I think we're moving into holiday overload in this house.
I've only just dumped all the remaining Valentine's candy that Miss E had brought home from Preschool. Given this post, at least I can let go of any extra guilt I might be feeling if I'd actually let her eat it all!
Now we're in this most Irish of days - Happy St. Patrick's Day to all!
Decked out in green, we all headed to Preschool this morning (fifteen minutes late as usual). The teacher asked me to stay a while and explain about St. Patrick to the kids - which I did happily (any opportunity to explain that Patrick used a 3 leaflet plant called a shamrock to explain the holy trinity, is a good one in my book. Where the four leafed clovers I see everywhere associated with St. Patrick's Day come in, I'm still not quite sure).
The kids all listened attentively, a shocking first for this group of energetic three year olds - must be my charm and lilting brogue that would make Darby O'Gill proud that did in then, eh?
Our celebrations at home are going to be understated today. Always one to march to the beat of my own drum, for dinner tonight we're having - Chili. No, no corned beef and cabbage here. Corned beef and cabbage, as the Humble Housewife explains so well in this post, is more of an American Irish tradition anyway so I don't feel bad at all bucking this trend.
Soon we will bid farewell to St. Pat for another year, and the Easter Bunny will be due to make an appearance. Miss E has her Easter Party at school on Wednesday (more candy!), and a novice at all the necessary preparations - I forgot to bring my filled plastic eggs today. I had specially bought prefilled eggs which did not contain candy - no point in adding to any other kids' potential dental woes now is there? Thing is I didn't have time to come back home and get them after I'd had tea with a friend and gone shopping for a birthday present (I know, imagine taking time for myself, tsk tsk). Taking the easy way out, while shopping for the birthday present, I had to come down off my no candy moral high ground and buy replacements, filled with all sorts of toxic confections, just for someone else's mom to toss in the trash - good times.
The thing about Easter is, I haven't quite got my head around who the Easter Bunny is and what he (or she) is supposed to bring to our little darlings.
Growing up, we got Easter Eggs from our parents, usually ones containing our favourite chocolate bar, and ones we had selected while drooling over the various choices in Woolworths in the weeks before Easter. Easter Eggs in the UK and Ireland are big, boast chocolate eggs, and they contain little packages of chocolates.
In addition to this, there would be the Easter Egg Hunt in the garden (usually our Nana's) when after dinner we would scurry outside to find the eggs (chocolate again) that the Easter Bunny had left.
That was it!
No movies, toys, plush bunnies, bikes (?!!)
If I am to believe the marketing the Easter Bunny is becoming like Santa Claus.
To date we have put a few chocolate eggs in Miss E's basket, and called it good.
However, now that she's mixing with peers, and aware of what happens at other kids' houses - I'm in a quandary. Do I continue to keep this low key in our house - and let them hunt for the eggs outside that the bunny left? Or, am I setting her up for ridicule? If I give in and start filling baskets with toys and movies, I know that's a slippery path I'll be going down and one that's very hard to pull back from?
Tell me please about what happens at your house and let me get a feel for what the 'norm' is?
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Annie
6 comments:
keep it low ! there will be a year when she asks for it and all, i feel like as long as they hardly get it, and are happy with a little stick with it. i just went to target to get stuff and skipped the chocolate bunnies b/c they could care less. i got books, and little necklaces to hide in the eggs and that was about it (ok, i got pops and mnms as well but i felt i kept it low)
Hi-found you blog through Mommyvents. I was wondering the same thing today! It seems Easter is becoming some parents' excuse to go and overbuy for their children. I say keep it simple too-hide little trinkets in eggs, etc. That way, they do not expect more and more every year!
We keep it simple here. An egg each and another little treat. The husband picked up Disney Princess breakfast sets. Nana and Grandad will probably also shower them with chocolate. Oh the joys. Although I have to say Cadbury's have been skimping in the last few years. Remember they used to be those lovely thick shells... no more!
Thanks for the mention there. Yeah, four leaf clover thing, I never got, or even clover for that matter, which is distinctly different from our humble shamrock! Always said the Yanks do Paddy's day way better than we could, and watching the Dublin parade yesterday just reaffirmed that belief! ;-)
Keep it simple. At my house we dye some eggs the evening before, and the next day the kids do a small egg hunt in my yard. I give them a few Easter candies apiece in their baskets (we use the same ones every year)--that's about it! We have a nice breakfast, go to church, and the family comes over for dinner. My son asked me about the Easter Bunny; I practically had to bite my tongue to avoid saying that it's a Hallmark creation.
BTW, thanks for the info on St. Patrick. The only things I remember about St. Patrick was about driving snakes out of Ireland (I'm not sure I even remember that one correctly).
I agree - keep it low key!
We do a few pieces of candy and little (emphasis on little) toys (like bubbles and sidewalk chalk) in the Easter basket. And then a little Easter egg hunt.
That's it.
Good luck!
Hallowe'en - candy. Christmas - more candy. Valentines - pink candy. St Patrick's Day - green candy. Easter - chocolate and candy. Enough to make you sick. Homesick...
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