Easter is a very small box
brought up from the basement.
Simply containing:
the best remains of former years,
little hops of nostalgia and sprigs of inspiration;
basic invitations for another round of sentimental play…
The pink rabbit I sewed as a child.
The baggie of stale jellybeans (now 5 years old, and they never snitch any!)
The salt-dough garlands and cookie cutters ready to go…
The little bits we need for playing Easter Factory.
I bring out paintbrushes and wooden eggs.
We pretend we are easter bunnies and we pretend paint.
Wooden trains and conveyer-belt ramps come out to transport eggs and jelly beans around the world.
They make a satisfying sound cascading down homemade tunnels and tubes.
We make more pastel-painted salt dough ornaments
and hang them with twine.
We dye dozens of eggs,
for weeks and weeks.
Preferably outside in our wild, magical laboratory.
Or snuggled up in our little window-side bed/table…
Easter is one of the most Magical times of the year because of the sentimental flood that attends the spring thaw,
the finally-finally Spring feeling!
So much life!!
It’s all wrapped up together with the sweet little traditions like finding 3 dozen rainbow chicken eggs in the forest!
There are the family myths we create to attend this seasonal shift, but I dare say there is also a meaning
that just is.
Easter is profound.
I am big on Santa and wild about the tooth fairy, but the easter bunny just ain’t no thang.
We don’t load up on junk come Easter —
No gifts, no chocolates, no baskets of plastic on Easter morn.
This particular myth I literally DO NOT BUY.
We go for a different kind of Easter Magic.
Around here we Easter with lots of color and play and charm but also with deep intention and honor and sacrifice.
Yes, I believe in that old fashioned meaning of Easter!
The kids have thrust themselves into the heart of Lent this year……all their own idea and they are rising to it:
No Saturday morning Netflix,
No Friday night family movies,
No random screens,
No video games,
No treats.
for 40 days.
The TV is literally unplugged and the batteries are out of the remote.
And, since fair is fair, zero alcohol or coffee for us parents.
IT’S NOT EASY!!!
I had to laugh because
I am self-publishing a book,
launching my kickstarter soon,
and about to get a puppy —
— how is this a good time to cancel the screen-sitter AND go off coffee??
All part of the wild abandonment!!
Surrender even more, loosen off the indulgences, get clear and simple and quiet inside…
Live every day from a place of wild, moment by moment trust and deeper intuition…
There is joy unspeakable in this place.
Though we feel wonderful grace to breach now and then
(Dave’s birthday! Let’s eat cake! My book launch, let’s celebrate!
Haven’t slept in days! God very kindly offers me a coffee!)
These are all beautiful things.
One thing has become very obvious to me:
Kids need something to look forward to,
a purpose to live for,
and above all they are wired for magic.
“Screen Time” provides a sense of order and rhythm and ritual, if you think about it.
Daily allotted screen time functions like a pavlovian bell, anticipated with brain chemical dopamine “drool.”
Screens also provide a kind of magic — wave your finger and create a world.
Just some of the reasons it’s so powerful in their lives.
Cut it off completely and observe….what comes? Symptoms of withdrawal?
Okay. Let that be.
Just observe, dear parent-scientist…..
In the vacuum,
when the surrogate magic is removed,
the child can be seen so nakedly.
In the death of all that fleshy attachment it can get ugly.
Mine bickered like crazy at first.
They looked hollowed out, deflated, flat, morose.
But just for a couple of days.
Then…
A surge of innovation!!
New thresholds of joyful creative play everywhere!
Tons of time outside, reading, helping each other.
They are finding themselves in new ways.
The 2.5 year old actually stopped asking for Paw Patrol!
I feel like I have my 11 year old back.
The sparkle in the 7 year old is impossible to quantify; it is out of this world.
There is a totally different quality of laughter reverberating through the house.
It’s a spiritual transaction, a mystical fact.
Death to the flesh = revival of the spirit.
Just a little something to think about, in the midst of the brilliant pink-yellow-blue dollar store aisle!
Traditions have power;
my husband and I have always modelled Lent, but this year the kids just took it on, full throttle.
So it doesn’t hurt to ask why you Easter the way you Easter —
What do you want to add, keep, throw away, or experiment with this year… or next…?
It’s a great time to evolve and transform, whatever your beliefs.
You get to choose which glorious bits to save and tuck away in that one little Easter box.
This is how we Easter, anyway…
Triumphantly!
Playfully!!
Graciously!
All in!
And quite expectant of miracles.
To stay in touch with Gigi and receive special updates feel free to subscribe below!
1 COMMENT
Jacqueline
4 years agoGigi, this is just lovely!! Thank you for sharing it with me! Blessings to you all 😀 Jacqueline