The Bunny Ruins Easter

So it's been said many a time that the commercialization of our Christian holidays ruins the true meaning of our celebrations. This was hammered home again in the Brueggemann family this Easter after a trip to see "The Bunny" at the mall on the eve of Easter Sunday. Let's just say Natalie hated everything about the oversized furry creature dressed in an ugly velvet suit with loud Easter egg tie.

She not only would have no business sitting on his lap (I mean what kind of a mutant bunny is that large anyway...) but she was extremely worried about Nicholas and Naomi sitting on his lap. We thought at first this was just cute and she would get over it like most kids do. Well, not only did she not forget about him, but when anyone mentions anything about Easter now she starts to glance around in a panic, cry and jump into the nearest arms of a consoling adult. The night before Easter she awoke on several occassions screaming "no, no, no, not like it" and finally ended up in our bed for the night.

Nicholas has also had his own uneasy contemplations about the Easter Bunny and has begun asking too many hard questions for a four year old. As we left the mall he said, "I think that bunny was wearing a costume...what do you think?" To which Mommy replied, "Uh, yeah...so is that what you think?" Nicholas says "yes". Mommy says "ok, yeah I agree but he's just the real Easter Bunny's helper you see...wow, look over there - the overpriced bouncy ball machine, let's get one!"

Thinking next year we might just forego any visits to the mall during the months of March and April. It should help the whole house sleep better at night, save me the ridiculous $20 I spend for 8 terrible wallet-sized pictures of kids screaming or about to scream and won't cloud the true meaning of the holiday with plastic eggs and mutant rabbits.