The Day After...

Well Easter is now behind us. For those of you with little ones, I am certain yesterday was both exciting and exhausting. Now that my kids are way beyond the idea of the Easter bunny..these holidays get a bit lost..It is sad yet somehow refreshing at the same time. No worries of having to find that Easter basket with this years most popular characters..no more major candy shopping and no more of having to get up at the crack of anything to see where the Easter bunny left the baskets.. While this all sounds too good to be true..at the same time it's all very sad. There are less than a handful of great parent moments each year and the big holidays used to be those times..No matter how bad the rest of the year went it was always a great feeling knowing that the kids were grateful and excited about the Easter Bunny, Santa..the Tooth Fairy etc. Now...nothing..This novelty has been quickly replaced with the whining and nagging of the kids about having to go anywhere there might be relatives at. My 'holidays' are now spent figuring out what the kids may or may not complain about when it comes to the meal associated with each holiday. 'Do we HAVE to have that?'...'lets just get Chinese food'..etc., etc. Most of my holidays are now spent carting the kids to their friends or girlfriends house..or having to pick them up and bring them here...The whole concept of a holiday..a time for family, good food and a welcome rest from the usual day to day grind has been lost forever! Easter Sunday has been replaced with just a Sunday..Christmas is now a day for the kids to get all the grub they know they are getting and the whole prep for it is over in less than 5 minutes! The kids could care less about the Tooth Fairy..but the idea of getting money for teeth is still high on their priority list of belief!! I could go on and on about all of this but I guess..in a nut shell is to slow down and enjoy those special moments with the kids because when you blink your eyes..it will all be gone! Here's hoping that many of you parents were able to enjoy the stained hands from coloring those eggs..were able to enjoy running to the market at the last possible moment to get carrots to insure that the 'Bunny" wouldn't pass your house by...enjoy for the next few weeks..finding those jelly beans that have rolled under the couch..and for the most fortunate...I hope you will remember to enjoy the fact that your little one imprinted a chocolate handprint on your Easter best right before you were leaving for church..and that hopefully you were the envy of the town as you proudly wore those macaroni earrings your little one made for you to wear on Easter!!! Peace to all.