And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

I'm beginning to loathe Easter. For one thing, as a not particularly religious person, I find the secularization of Easter a little bit weird. I mean, I can get behind giving gifts to those you love at Christmas. I can support getting together with extended family and giving thanks to them, if not to some type of deity, at Thanksgiving. But the transformation of Easter from the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ to a holiday in which a bunny encourages children to gorge themselves on candy is strange to me. Not that that keeps us from participating.

Last year, we hid a ton of eggs for then-4-year-old Katie, and it took her forever to find them. My husband and I both found it a frustrating experience. This year, we again hid a ton of eggs -- 37 for her, 5 for 1-year-old Ian (scattered on the floor in a special area) -- despite my husband reminding me of last year. "She's 5 now," I replied. "She'll want to find lots of eggs."

Yeah, right. Again, it took forever. For someone who's so into hide-and-seek, this girl has no sense of looking for something until she finds it. The thrill of the hunt is not for her. No wonder she can never find her favorite stuffed horsie at bedtime.

And, of course, there was the requisite meltdown about Ian picking up one of "her" eggs. Because, you know, *36* eggs to *6* is a much less favorable ratio than 37 to 5. Sigh. And the also-requisite yanking of an egg away from her brother, followed by the customary go-to-your-room punishment.

She seems happy with her presents, which mostly consisted of a whole herd of My Little Ponies. Ian seems content with his lot, which was being able to eat jelly beans for breakfast (oh, just this once!). Everyone is playing and relatively happy. But still. Holidays are not all they're cracked up to be. I can only hope that someday it'll get better -- that with maturity (the children's? mine?), we'll all be able to handle the heightened anxiety, anticipation, and giddiness that stem from these big events.

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 12:48 PM