If you were a little girl in the late 70s and early 80s, there is a great chance right about now you are an “OVER IT” mom, and by “over it,” I mean you’re over just about every aspect of childhood being hijacked by commercialism and marketing. Halloween merchandise starts appearing in August, Christmas soon thereafter, and even birthday parties have gotten insane with the idea that stuff, stuff, and more stuff is the norm. Well thank God Easter was still safe. I mean, it’s a holy day. It’s kinda like, sacred. It’s special, and yet simple. It’s an uncomplicated spring day, with kids skipping around the backyard looking for eggs, then maybe a drive to Grandma’s house to eat a spiral sliced ham, and eagerly bite the head of that chocolate bunny behind the clear cellophane.
Right?
WRONG.
Easter, like every other holiday, celebration, and manageable childhood party, has been hijacked, and taken over by aisles and aisles of things. Big things. Little things. Shiny things. Wireless things. Now, it’s not enough to give your kids a little straw basket with jelly beans and cream filed eggs. According to a TV commercial a large retail giant is currently airing, my kids should wake up on Easter morning to brand new bikes. B-I-K-E-S. And iPads. And baskets overflowing with Lego sets, dolls, and DVDs.
What the marshmallow peep is that all about?
I cannot be alone in thinking all of us moms are overwhelmed enough, are feeling ‘guilty’ enough, and are feeling ‘less than’ enough. We are chasing a picture of holiday perfection that for the average family is just unreachable. And then the guilt with it? Don’t even get me started. Not gonna go there.
How about we just do Easter like we were brought up doing it? What was so wrong with that? My parents put nickels, dimes, and quarters in plastic eggs and hid them around the house. Finding and then snapping open an egg with three quarters in it was the biggest thrill, and if you got the egg with the one dollar bill in it? Score! As little girls we wore matching dresses, bonnets and gloves, and went to church and stayed after in the hall to eat glazed donuts and drink OJ out of tiny cups. After, we went through our pink (un-monogrammed GASP!) fake straw baskets, digging under the lime colored easter grass, looking for chocolate coins, jelly beans, and if we were lucky, a chocolate bunny and maybe a plastic bracelet or necklace we could wear for the day. We would head to grandma’s house, where we would swim all day with our cousins, between shoving candy in our mouths and waiting on the huge dinner she was preparing. At day’s end we were exhausted, content, having had a taste of what our laid back summer would be like. Our parents did nothing over the top special, no Pinterest perfect crafts, or hundreds of dollars spent. And yet I can recall a day that took place over 30 years ago with perfect clarity.
Easter Day involved family, not things. Being together for a brunch, not getting on new bikes. And somehow, we felt loved and special without the excess. What a concept.
This Easter, I will not buy into the buy everything culture. We will do our own simple thing- hide some eggs, open some candy, go to mass. We will visit Nana, have dinner together, and let the kids play with their cousins. And we will leave the TV off, because I’m sure there is a car company airing a commercial where the Easter Bunny leaves a $65K luxury vehicle topped with marshmallow peeps in the driveway Easter morning.
Mcaveety.susan says
I like the idea of hiding plastic eggs with coins in them around the house. Gonna bring that idea from the 70's into Easter 2015!
Cali Family says
Yes! I plan to do the same for our boys.
Julie Workman says
I'm definitely OVER IT. We try to keep things simple for our boys, simply because we don't want them becoming self-important brats.
The Easter Bunny hides a few eggs in the yard, and brings a basket of goodies (which usually includes a new pair of swim trunks, but nothing more exciting).
Auntie M & I stuff about 300 eggs for the 6 kids to hunt after church on Sunday – the big kids (aka Papa, Daddy & Uncle JJ) get to hide the eggs. Nobody gets electronics, or anything with wheels capapble of holding their body weight. We focus on family, Jesus' gift to us, and being thankful. That's what it's about, after all!
Claudine Provenza Lang says
Gosh, you just nailed my childhood. And so many memories, I also Love the article about your mom in the picture. I could easily have the exact same picture of my mom. Why do I let myself play the matter? A good question I need to ask myself.
rl says
Easter is the one Christian holiday that I refuse to let be taken over by secular commercialism. I already refer to "secular Christmas" (involving presents and Santa) and "real Christmas" (involving the birth of Jesus)in our house. For Easter, I am completely committed to it remaining a day of church and a special dinner. There are chocolates in baskets (because, well, chocolate), but no bunnies. No plastic eggs. We do all of the holy week church services so that Easter is connected with the entire story of Christ. I do not believe there is a "war on Christmas" as this has been a dual holiday for a long time now. But I do believe this is a war on Easter and I refuse to participate. The big displays of gift baskets don't have anything to do with the real Easter message and I tell my children just that.