So, I have a little secret. I’m going to be transparent for just a second..
I HATE participating in Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and any other made up holiday character. I wish we had never started these traditions with our kids but we’re kind of stuck now. Yes, I know some many of you disagree with me, and that’s ok! We can agree to disagree. I’m not saying we should ban it from everyone, I just personally wish it wasn’t a part of my families traditions.
Why, oh why, are you asking, do I hate this so much? I know it sounds cliché, but it DOES take away from the true meaning of the holidays. Santa, I can at least tie it back to Jesus’ birth through the giving of gifts. I still don’t like it but whatever. The Easter Bunny on the other hand is just ludicrous! A rabbit that brings candy all over the world in one night. Just the fact that it’s a rabbit is ridiculous. And what exactly does it have to do with Easter; you know the whole Jesus dying and being resurrected to save us from eternal damnation? Yeah, I don’t see it either. So, hang on just a second while I jump over and see what google has to say……………………………………………………………….Ok. So, the bunny represents some pagan fertility thing. I really don’t know exactly, but I didn’t find a worthy enough connection. I did however find a great article from Focus on the Family regarding how to incorporate the true meaning into the commercialized end of the holiday. I just printed the 5 mini-lessons on The Passion of the Christ. If you’re searching for alternatives to the obvious you should check it out.
For school today the kids wanted to do an egg hunt and I, of course, did not want to just hand out candy like it’s no big thing. Schooltime focusing and sugar highs have been known to cause some unGodly reactions from the teacher….just saying. Anyway, I asked if anyone had an idea to make it school appropriate, i.e. educational, and to my surprise, Jonathan, my school-hating rambunctious 7 yr old, had the answer. I promise he did not consult Pinterest first 🙂 He suggested we put a math fact into each egg and if you answer correctly you receive a candy. I was blown away. So that’s what we did. I put multiplication facts in Zeke’s, subtraction in Jonathan’s, and addition in Emma’s. They did fantastic. Even little Emma who hasn’t really had math this year. She was adding like we’d been working on it for the past month!
But my quest for aligning God’s truth with this egg nonsense continued until I found a fantastic egg hunt idea that incorporates the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. I, however, did find my awesome idea on Pinterest, over at Your Homesbased Mom.
Check it out! Basically it’s an egg hunt with 12 numbered eggs each with a scripture and item representing it inside. We did it yesterday and I loved it!
So ultimately, we will probably continue on with our character holiday traditions however I will be purposeful in how we teach them the true meaning of it all. After all, God is more concerned with our heart, is he not?
Learning to Love Them 