We had a lovely and simple celebration on Sunday with my parents joining us for the day. It was cold, but spring none the less. (Gray sky and cold winds be darned.)
I took every aspect of our celebration down a notch this year, from fancy clothes to dying eggs to the gifts in their baskets.
In fact this year there was nothing handmade at all brought by the spring bunny. Nada.
As I said on Saturday, there are days where you decide that enough is enough.
Instead
of crafty goods the bunny brought a bird feeder, bag of seed, and
garden tool for each child along with the flower seeds that they receive
each year.
And – of course – the kids were as tickled as ever. It seems like whatever is given is met with grace, enthusiasm and gratitude. Because it's about the magic, not what they receive.
And to be honest, there was relief for me in toning things down.
In having a
holiday that wasn't picture-perfect. (Heck, Lupine even talked me into a
bag of plastic eggs at the thrift store, so those were mixed in with
our wool and paper mache homemade varieties.)
Because why not? I find no joy in perfection (especially the journey to it) so why not chill out a little?
Indeed. The magic was alive, but not the hustle and worry and business. (As Lupine's face will attest in the photograph above just after the "Wish Bunny" was found.)
Don't get me wrong. I still value craftiness. But I think it's important to know when enough is enough.
Because there in lies balance – and the joy – of a perfectly simple celebration.
Well said! Sometimes you really do have to know when enough is enough. Or when to give a little on your path to “ideal” I’m finding that I am having to give in a little on the pink and sparkles. I have a three year old who adores pink and sparkles. Sparkly things and things with ruffles bring her so much joy.
wisdom
In today’s world, where everywhere you look someone is implying “more, more and more,” rather than observe what is around you, it’s good to say “enough already!” Sometimes it’s hard because young children have no concept of money and time. They must think everything magically appears, endlessly!
Your photos are lovely and tell such a great story of your day. Lupine’s face shows such delight, and those eyes, wow!
I hear ya! I, too, normally make my own gifts but this year I was overwhelmed and then got sick. So I ran off to the store and found some lovely pink sandals as the main gift. Our celebration was as special as always and the sandals were well received. And, surprisingly, I was not so disappointed in myself for the lack of preparation. The wisdom of knowing when to cut yourself some slack makes this life more enjoyable.
Thank you for your insights. I enjoy your blog and appreciate knowing “I am not the only one”.
We had a simple one, kind of. My father had brought a bunny and egg with chocolates from Spain, in the other hand I had got some very good chocolates that got spoiled by the hot weather, so my son got to eat no chocolate.
And I got excited the day before and knit and invented the hare and bunny, but it only took me a little here and there to make them and I was not hurry.
We saw The Wall video and my son got horrified by the idea of the educational system controls all us, that he had nightmares with the picture of the teacher. And so, I could not work that night on preparing anything.
But it was all right, I fell for plastic eggs to, that now are part of the pretend kitchen supplies.
Yours looks great.
Our son is in high school now, so we don’t do the egg hunt anymore. But when he was little, we too had some plastic thrift store eggs hidden with our colored eggs. And he was always filled with joy and wonder to see what was inside each one. Nuts, popcorn, raisins, or maybe even a tiny felted critter. Joy is what it is about!
Ours was so simple too. My daughter was thrilled to search for her hidden basket. And hard boiled eggs outside. What fun!
So funny… I remember reading about when you ditched your old plastic eggs in favor of your lovely woolen ones. You wrote something about how they didn’t seem to fit with your holiday. I love that you have so gracefully readmitted some thrifted ones into the mix this year. It really is a journey, isn’t it? I think we can get so stressed trying to live this picture-perfect natural lifestyle that we miss out on some simplicity and joy. As a mother, there is SO MUCH to do. I think it is tremendously important to figure out the things it’s OK to let go of in favor of sanity. Thanks for sharing this post. I think it truly lifts us all up.
So true. I am usually busy as can be the week before Easter with tons of baking and crafting. This year, not have we just moved and still live in boxes, our oven is not functioning and I got sick. REALLY sick. I had to let go of it all. I bought some candy and had a plastic egg hunt for the little one and we had a quiet day. It was wonderful.
Ah yes, perfectly simple.
Thank you for being honest! It’s so challenging to give ourselves permission to do less. We enjoyed a panic-free, relaxed weekend as well, thanks to saying “no” to any more. My family lives in a community that celebrates most holidays with loads of gifts (even Halloween has a “gift fairy” that takes away the excessive candy that they give each other’s children, and replaces it with a large gift?!), and my quiet rebellion has always been to make gifts, sometimes staying up until the wee hours to finish. This year we had no hand-mades, with bubbles and sidewalk chalk from the Bunny, and a few chocolate treats. Everyone was happy (and well rested for my part!). It IS a journey, mostly of self-acceptance, I think? Being present and in the moment was so much more rewarding than even watching them discover something I made for them!