Easter

I'm not religious and my parents are buddists so I've never 'celebrated' Easter my whole life. Easter never even registered on my calendar as a holiday. Until this weekend, I never knew that Spring break (aka Easter break) had any association with Easter. Well, now that I have a young child, I'm beginning to experience many other 'American' things that I didn't grow up with.

It's always cute to see toddlers all dressed up in adorable outfits with their Easter basket. Scarlett was no exception. We took her to a Easter egg hunt at a park in Menlo Park on Saturday. Since the park is a block away from a Caltrain station, we decided to take the Caltrain (again), with her grandparents in tow, to the Easter egg hunt. Just like her last train ride, Scarlett loved it. I had searched online recently looking for Easter egg hunts and decided on this one because they separate kids into age groups for the egg hunt, with the under 2 years old kids going first. I thought this was a great idea because who wants to have their little toddler learn about the egg hunt and to have all the eggs snatched up by bigger kids. We got to the park almost an hour before the actual egg hunt. So we let Scarlett wander around and burn off some energy. I think it turned out to be more of an exercise in seeing what it takes to tire grandma out. Scarlett ran/walked all over the park like an Energizer bunny with Grandma walking/chasing after her. My husband waited in line so that Scarlett could take a picture with the Easter bunny. Our turn came up about 5 minutes before the egg hunt started. I held Scarlett and walked up to the Easter bunny (some guy with a white bunny suit and face paint) for a picture. As soon as I got within 2 feet of the Easter bunny, Scarlett started screaming "NOOOO!!!" and kicking her feet. I guess that was a sign that she didn't want her picture taken with the Easter bunny. (Note to self: don't go to Disneyland until she's at least 4 years old.)

The egg hunt was a lot more positive. She didn't quite get the concept of collecting the eggs so when she came upon a pile of eggs and another little girl who was trying to gather up all the eggs, Scarlett grabbed the eggs and placed them into that girl's basket. It was the funniest thing to see. I'm sure next Easter, she won't be doing that...

This morning, I thought about the Easter egg hunt and wondered if we should go to church too next Easter. I'm definitely not religious but I wouldn't know what to say if she ever asked me, "Mom, why do we celebrate Easter?" Do you think it's a good idea?