The Cat is Out of the Bag...or the Bunny is Out of the Hat

It's Easter this weekend...and it will be an Easter the girls will likely never forget. It's the Easter that the bunny went from being real to the mythical creature he actually is.

It all started on an innocent trip to the dollar store to purchase some plastic eggs. I just wasn't in the mood this year to do the dying hardboiled style so I was opting for the bunny to hide their empty plastic eggs with chocolate in them. On the way home Amelia and I were having a heart-to-heart conversation which I have no recollection of what it was about but it had something to do with the Easter bunny. Evelyn hops by and announces..."the Easter Bunny's not real, it's Mom" and then skips happily off, completely unaware of having just crushed Amelia's whole belief in magical holiday celebrations. Amelia looks at me with huge eyes of disbelief and questions, "Is it true Mom? Is the Easter Bunny not real? Is it you?". I had been expecting this from her this year but since Audree was on my other side I was not going to spill the beans right there. I told her we'd talk about it later but she just wouldn't drop it. All the way home she prodded and questioned me until I finally had to whisper in her ear that it was not a conversation to have with her four-year-old sister within hearing range. Thankfully she backed off but it was a very solomn walk home and a sulky rest of the evening.

Bedtime arrived and Amelia was downstairs doing homework as I put the younger girls to bed. Evelyn cornered me in my room to verify her suspicians (although when she stated her postition on the way home she certainly didn't seem to be questioning her theory).

"It's you Mom, isn't it?"

"What do you think"

"I'm not sure...I think he might be real but I'm not sure how he gets around."

"Why don't you tell me about what you know about the Easter Bunny then you can decide what you think."

"He's a real looking bunny but is as big as a person...and he walks...and talks...and......"

Then she burst out laughing. It's like her brain finally connected reality to what she was saying and put in all in perspective.

"He's not real. It's you. You love us more than the Easter Bunny anyway."

And with that she gives me a big hug and happily goes off to bed.

Downstairs to Amelia. I sit down at the table with her and she starts right in. Surprisingly, the conversation started out quite similar to Evelyn's.

"So, is the Easter Bunny real or is it you?"

"What do you think?"

"I'm not sure...I think he's real but I don't know how he gets around. Santa has a sleigh and reindeer, the Tooth Fairy flies but how can he hop fast enough to get to everyone's house?"

"Why don't you tell me about what you know about the Easter Bunny then you can decide what you think."

"I think he's white and looks like a really bunny only bigger. He walks and talks and I think he has glasses. He can read and know how to write."

The whole time she's just watching me to see if I think she's right. Nothing is clicking with her.

So I just repeat back what she said to me only slower with a smile on my face.

"What you're telling me is that there's a giant white bunny that walks around and can talk whose sole purpose in life is to hand out chocolate to children. Really Amelia? Think about it."

She kind of smiles and after a long pause she says, "Yeah, I guess he can't be real. Bunnies can't do those sorts of things."

So I come clean and tell her that no, he's not real and that it's me and Daddy who fill their baskets with treats and hide their eggs. She seems okay with this new information. Not totally overjoyed, a little crushed, but resigned to the fact there isn't such thing as the Easter Bunny. She finished up her homework and goes off to bed.

About half an hour later she comes back downstairs sobbing uncontrollably. Once I get her to breath it all comes spilling out. If the Easter Bunny's not real then neither is Santa or the Tooth Fairy. Her whole life has been a web of lies. She wishes that she never pushed the subject, that she could go back to the innocence of childhood where strangers crept into our house in the middle of the night to leave presents and chocolate and money.

It took half an hour to console her. We talked about the beauty of traditions and how Rene and I had discussed if we would carry them on with our family. We talked about how the magic of these holidays isn't diminished because she no longer believes in their stories. Easter and Christmas are centered around Christ and the world has changed the focus to be on materialistic ideas. Besides, how much more special is it to know that we, as her parents, are the ones who loving pick out things we think they'll love to fill their baskets and stockings. I told her about the many nights I have driven around Orangeville at 1 am looking for somewhere to break a $20 for the Tooth Fairy. I asked her if her birthday would be more special if it was a Birthday Dragon who gave her gifts or if it's just as exciting with presents from her family. I told her now she could help me "stocking" shop at Christmas and about how much more fun it is to be on the giving side of the holidays. I assured her that Santa and the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy would still visit her (I think she was partially worried that now that she didn't believe she no longer qualified).

And then a tender mercy happened. It still amazes me how our Heavenly Father is so in tune with our lives in ways that are so insignificant on a worldly scale but make all the difference to a 9-year-old who has just found out the Easter Bunny isn't real. Evelyn lost her tooth on Sunday at Grandmaman and Granpapa's. We placed it in a ziplock bag and carefully brought it home...only to misplace it. I just found it this afternoon, sitting on the kitchen counter the whole time. She had just tonight placed it under her pillow. What a perfect opportunity for Amelia to experience the excitement of being the giver. I gave her the toonie and she quietly crept into her sister's room, exchanged the tooth for the coin and crept out. The look on her face was priceless. She was so excited to have been a part of the magic.

I think she'll be okay. I don't think we've scarred her for life. It will be interesting to see how long before Evelyn makes the connections between Santa and the Tooth Fairy but with Audree and Lucienne still young we'll have the magic in our home for many years to come.

A Little More of Lucienne

Lucienne is such a character. Her own personallity is emerging stronger every day - her sense of humour and her stubborness and her clownyness and her wanting to do whatever her sisters are doing and her loving to make people laugh. She loves putting things on and taking things off. The loves getting into things and onto things. Have I said yet how much I love this kid?

Looks like a hat to me.

Available in stores for a limited time only.

5 seconds.

Baby needs to nurse.

Escape accomplises.

The toddler smile on command smile.

Bookclubbing at the Local Library

I think I've mentioned the book club I started a little over a year ago. It's still tons of fun. We have an awesome group of girls who all love to read and discuss books. 

About a month ago I was asked by the local library to be part of a panel discussion on how to run a successful book club. I was honoured that they had asked me to be part of it but felt like a bit of an imposter. I don't know that there's anything I have done that has made this group successful. I think it has run so well because of who is in the group. However I agreed to do it because it would be a night out talking about books (which I already love to do) and maybe I could help someone in some way figure out how to put a group together. It would also be an opportunity to speak to at least two other book club organizers and get a glimpse of how their clubs run.

I arrived on time (the wonders of getting out of the house without children) to a room full of 3 senior women. The two other panellists arrived, a couple librarians and...that was the group. One panellist ran a club that has been around for over 25 years and has a membership of over 20 at any given time. The other was on a Rogers cable book club show. And me, yeah, I get together with a group of friends and talk about a book...like I wasn't already feeling a little under-qualified!

As we got started our audience of three admitted that they were already part of a book club and were there to find some solutions to problems their groups was experiencing. First and foremost...how do we keep the group on topic? I immediately had an image of chattering elderly women sitting around talking about anything under the sun with these three women at the front calling attention to deaf ears. 

All in all, it was a fun night. If anything it made me realize how special our little group is. We have great conversations that sometimes meander but naturally come back to the book. It’s a very laid back group that welcomes everyone’s comments without judgement or malice. There have a been a few books that half the group loved and half did not and those have been some of our best discussion. I have a feeling that April’s book is going to fall into that category. I personally did not like it at all and it probably would have been one of the few books that I would have never finished.

And at the end they presented us each with a $50 gift certificate to a local book store as a thank-you for participating. The pressure is on...what book do I consider worth buying?

Love, Love, Love

Could she BE any more perfect?

I feel a little guilty doing the first Darcy post but I can't help it...it's the most exciting thing that has happened to our family in the last little while.

Becca, we sure do make perfect girls. I love loving other people's kids as much as my own! That's the awesomeness of family. And Darcy, she's just a doll. There were lots of screams of excitement Monday morning when we learned she had finally made her debut into the world - prompt and on-time, hopefully a character trait that will follow her through life. As much as I wanted to drop everything right then and drive up I figured it would be better to give her a few days to adjust to this world before exposing her to her plethora of loving and excited cousins. 

Instead we went today so we could spend the whole afternoon doting on her...at least that was my plan. I figured the novelty would wear off in a few minutes for the girls then I could get her all to myself. Was I ever wrong. I think I held her for all of three minutes before passing her to Amelia for what I thought would be a quick snuggle. 2 1/2 hours later...neither have budged and the smile never left Amelia's face. She spent most of it lovingly gazing down at her and notifying everyone of all the cute faces she was making. Where was this girl when her sisters were born? She reluctantly passed her back to Becca when feeding time was coming around again. 

The baby monopolizer.

There's just something magical about newborns. And it's even more magical when it's not me who's walking around as a sleep deprived zombie. It's almost unfair that we as mothers don't have the advantage of thoroughly enjoying those first few weeks as we struggle with a body that just birthed a baby and nights that are days and days that are nights. I guess that what nieces are for!

Can’t wait for our next Darcy fix.

Another proud cousin.

She sure is adored.