When I was a child, Easter wasn't the kind of holiday you got really excited about. (this post is not going to look at the religious aspects) Of course, all the holidays were fun in their own way; Easter meant getting out of school on Good Friday, mom's potato salad, deviled eggs and ham, and the Easter Bunny leaving me lots of chocolate treats.
I would always get a basket for Easter, with a chocolate bunny, jelly beans and other small candies. Occasionally a small toy like a Matchbox car or GI Joe figure. In the years that have passed, somehow Easter turned into Christmas in Spring - my wife and I just bought my daughter the $20 My Little Pony Castle (which was the only way to get her the "Prince Shining Armor" toy), another $4 MLP toy, in addition to candy. So it was basically like a birthday, or Christmas, in March.
I spent a considerable amount of my working life in retail, and I noticed the trend at that time as well. Not having a child however, I didn't reflect too much on it. Not having to foot the bill tends to make one complacent in regards to certain bits of knowledge, you know. And like most of my recent life, things look so very different viewed through the lens of fatherhood. Anyway, over the years, Easter has become another day in which parents invest time trudging through stores looking for a certain toy or video game, etc., to satisfy their child's expectations. That's right, I said "expectations." My daughter, all of 4 years on this earth, told me several times exactly what the Easter Bunny was bringing her. And she was right.
Another time I'll discuss why we caved into the expectation. But that is not for today's post.
What's changed? What did I miss? Has the Easter Bunny launched some grand plan to horn in on Santa's business model?
Let me know how your Easter Sunday went with your children.
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