I am now at that stage of parenting when it is important (or seen as important) to get Thomas involved in some traditional activities around the holidays. Before the age of two it’s really about the parents since the kids have little clue about what’s going on. Now that Thomas is two and a half, however, he fully understands the implications of events that involve chocolate or presents or cupcakes. For example, he tells me at least once a week that it will be his birthday tomorrow. Poor kid doesn’t realize he’s only half way there.

Now I fully support special events like Christmas and birthdays but Easter is another matter. It’s not that I don’t appreciate that holiday itself, it just seems a lot more commercial here in The States than it does at home. Maybe it’s the way we celebrated when I was a child. Every easter we would go camping thanks to an extended 4 or 5 day weekend and the easter bunny would leave eggs around our tent for us to find in the morning.

In America there is no holiday and the easter bunny brings toys (and seemingly anything else) rather than just eggs. The one tradition I thought would be fun was the Easter Egg hunt. Now that is something I can support – very little effort on my part and fun for Thomas. So when I found out about an easter egg hunt at the park near our house I thought perfect – this will keep Thomas occupied for at least an hour. I was wrong.

The eggs were thrown out on the grass so there was really no “hunt” and the whole thing was over in two minutes – no exaggeration! I guess I was a little disappointed. I had expected more time for photos after all… 🙂

I guess I do have to take some responsibility. As you can see from the photos, Thomas doesn’t really look like the catalogue images of toddlers in pastel Easter outfits with little wicker baskets. He chose to wear his “Pirate” shirt and carry a cookie monster easter basket for the event. I did try to dress him in something else but his closet is not really overflowing with pastel colours. It’s not really my (and therefore Thomas’) style.

The eggs were plastic and filled with a variety of little toys, nick nacks and chocolate.. oh and some money which was a little weird for a toddler event.

We went to a friend’s house after the hunt and on the way home Thomas decided to look through the goodies in his easter basket. I had forgotten that there were some Hershey’s kisses in there but didn’t think Thomas would know to unwrap them and eat them anyway. So I was driving down the freeway (not able to stop) and this little voice from the back seat says “Mummy, it’s broken”. I look back and he has managed to peel the foil off one of the kisses and it’s melting in his hand. So I said “you’d better put it in your mouth before it melts than, but no more”. A minute later “Mummy, this one’s broken too”. Needless to say, all Hershey’s kisses were gone by the time we got home. This kids is definitely starting to outsmart me.