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.