Angelo's Easter basket

We observe Easter as a celebration of Spring; after reading some really cool information about why eggs and bunnies are so prevalent  during Easter, I was more excited to celebrate.  My friend Terri Dodd got me this awesome book that details ancient (especially Celtic) celebrations. It talks about how at this time of year, people would supplement their winter stores with bird's eggs ... so, they went hunting for multi-colored eggs. There are many Goddesses with names that are variants of Easter and at least one is associated with the rabbit, a symbol of fertility (as are eggs). 

This year I happily collected books and puzzles from the $1 bins at Target and at TJ Max (they had awesome Melissa and Doug puzzles and really cute books. One has a magnet set - you place farm animals and equipment according to what the pages say. This was a really big hit!). I also got some egg shaped chalk at Big Lots. According to another book my awesome friend Terri got me, (Enchantment of the Fairy Realm) Fairies are extra active this time of year with all the leaves and flowers coming up and such. I hadn't really thought about it much, but one of the books I got him was a garden Fairy book where the Fairies plant seeds. Another was "Rainy Day Friends" and since it rains so much in the Spring, I thought that worked out well; again, I didn't really think about it, but that was a cool "coincidence".  I also got some 2 for 3 books from Books a Million. I was pretty happy with the haul.  We both love books!!! You'll notice there was no candy in the basket, and Angelo and I had a great time without it. (hooray, no grumpy child after the sugar crash!)  

I put plastic bags at the bottom of a wicker laundry basket (after I emptied the shoes we were storing in it) and covered them with one of my bellydance scarves for "grass". Then I arranged all the books and puzzles around the Bunny, which just had to have center stage. :)  When I brought it downstairs, I called for Angelo, "Come see your Easter basket!"  Not having really explained Easter to our 2-year-old, my husband was a little quicker and much more Pied Piper with, "Angelo, presents!" That got his attention and he came right up to the dining room where he happily explored his treasures while I told him why certain items tied into our celebration of Spring. 

I love that he's in his pajamas in these pictures, because it gives the illusion that it was actually morning. :) Angelo sleeps with us and we all go to bed late, so nothing happens in the morning without tremendous effort.  (Even on nights we go  to bed early, he still wakes up around the same time).  There are a  lot of out-of-the-ordinary things that I gladly do, but once in a while, because there aren't many parents around here who operate like we do, it's kind of nice to have the illusion of "normalcy".  That's really just so people will leave us alone. I don't have any intentions of doing things like everyone else just because it is common; it just gets tedious explaining why what other people do won't work for us (because I don't believe in most of those "things"). We had an egg hunt after nap time; I'll post about that in a while.  Holidays have gotten so much better, so much more meaningful for me now that we have Angelo. He's brought a wonderful sense of ritual into our lives. It was a very good day!