"It's Mom and Dad"

This past Christmas and now Easter yesterday, my hubby and I didn't have to play Santa or the Easter Bunny. Our youngest daughter let us know prior to Christmas that she knew we were Santa and the Easter Bunny.

Relief or end of the childhood years? First was relief. Being Santa was and is a huge task no matter who you are. As our kids got older, it became harder and harder to find gifts that were from this mythical person. We made sure to limit the number of gifts from Santa to three presents per child, the same amount Jesus received from the Three Wise Men. Also, the three gifts were not the most expensive gifts. We wanted to make sure that our kids knew that mom and dad were the ones that loved and cared about them the most, rather than this mythical person. Our Christmas Eve was less stressful which made for a wonderful Christmas morning celebration.

Easter Eve, we would turn into the crazy Easter Bunny and fill and hide eggs. This year, we didn't have to do that, besides the fact that we have no clue where the eggs are in the boxes from our move. I have to admit, it was fun filling the eggs with candy and the loose change we had collected over the year, which added up to quite a lot of money.

So my hubby asked me if our youngest daughter would be disappointed that we didn't hide eggs. I didn't think so. I think he is the one that misses the end of the childhood years of all three of our kids. He's very sentimental about these things, even though I am the one that made sure we had everything possible to make the Eve events happen. We were always stressed and pressed for time in getting things done the night before. It was nice not having to feel the pressure the night before.

Easter Sunday, we didn't have one piece of chocolate in the house or even one jelly bean, nothing. It was refreshing to know that we could focus on the true meaning of Easter and enjoy the Easter service at church and time with family afterwards.

Adios Santa and Easter Bunny, thanks for the memories!