Easter

Easter is a wonderful family holiday. I am fully aware of the easy road to losing the spiritual significance of the greatest day of the year in Christianity, and I'm chagrined that I didn't go to church today. Tried to get it on the radio, and they apparently had technical difficulties. The music is always so wonderful, and I missed that greatly. But I've been having anxiety problems lately and going to church alone is hard for me and would be particularly so on Easter. So I settled down (not really--had a bad morning but no one knew but me) and enjoyed having my two oldest granddaughters. Maddie insisted for a while on being alone out in front alone--I live on a through street--and I was astounded at how nervous that made me. I looked every two seconds, afraid that someone would spirit her away. When my kids were little I didn't fear that, but it's a different world.
At almost 8, Maddie still believes in Santa and the Easter bunny--and I find that really really touching. At Christmas, every time she opened a present, she raised her eyes heavenward and said, "Thank you, Santa," which made me think she had a little theological confusion.
Last night, she wrote a note to the Easter bunny, with a place for him to check that he'd read it. (Jamie went to bed without writing a note, but I was pleased that he pulled himself up before the girls awoke and checked the box on the note that he'd read it and wrote a reply note.) Maddie brought it to me: "See, the Easter bunny was here." We convinced her that he had asked Mommy and Daddy to hide the eggs so we could wait for Aunt Jordan and Uncle Christian(when I said maybe he was coming back, she asked skeptically, "Why would the bunny go to the same house twice? He has a lot of houses to visit!). So the girls stayed in "their" room a little before noon, while the adults hid eggs, and then we had a frantic egg hunt. Followed by a big dinner with Uncle Charles, my longtime friend Mary Lu, and my neighbor Sue, whose children were with their father and were sorely missed by Maddie and Edie. Jacob charmed everyone. The girls want to carry him everywhere and love on him all the time, till I'm afraid he'll cry out in frustration, but he remains ever cheerful and flirts with everyone. It was a happy Easter.
And, no, I haven't forgotten the real meaning of the day.