Easter Baskets

Last weekend was the great Easter Basket weekend. Meaning, time for me as a parent to FILL the baskets, time for the kids to EMPTY the baskets, time for Mom to CLEAN UP AFTER the baskets.  After an insane week at home and school, it was Friday night and  I still hadn't shopped for the bunny's treats. Mark saw a commercial for Walgreen's and sends me on my way; saving me an hour just for the driving back and forth to Target or Walmart, as well as the indecision that would come in to play in a bigger store. Problem solved, and I was back in less than an hour and very pleased with my treat purchases. I remember being a kid and finding my own baskets. They were simple metal sand pails filled with jellybeans and chocolate eggs, and of course a chocolate bunny! My siblings and I did not have permanent baskets that we put out each year as we did with Christmas stockings. As we got a little older, Mom added bubbles or chalk, but it remained simple. I'm not sure when Easter Baskets became a huge production. When they became bigger than life, Christmas stockings revisited, commercialized.. I found myself sucked into that last year, and swore to "bring it down a notch" this year. I managed to do that, but barely. The stores don't help me in my quest for simplification!!!  My kids do have Pottery Barn personalized Easter baskets, I confess. But I plan to keep it simple after my first few years of going overboard. Because really in the end....it's all about the jellybeans and the chocolate bunny you eat ears first. :)