It is Easter-eve and I'm sitting, wondering if people remember what Easter is about.
It started last week, when I searched my local multi-department super store for the chocolate crosses I traditionally buy my children.
I have always supported the Easter Bunny, but with a spiritual twist. I have always tried to make sure that my children got some of the same basket fare their friends did, but wanted to make sure they remembered the true meaning of the holiday. Their Easter baskets were always filled with candy and little goodies but a large chocolate cross was always the centerpiece.
This year, my local multi-department super store had a large aisle filled with many tasty morsels, chocolate of every description...except the chocolate crosses. They had a rather bizarre assortment of chocolate non-Easter animals, including an owl, a squirrel and, of all things, a hedgehog. I turned to my best-friend and frequent shopping companion, Cyn, and said "What's up with this? The Easter Squirrel?"
After checking five more stores, there was not a chocolate cross to be found. As a matter of fact, in some places there was little or nothing that reflected the true meaning of the season. Bunnies, lambs, ducks and even a frog or two. As I reluctantly purchased chocolate bunnies at the last store, the clerk also commented on the fact that she hadn't seen anything either.
"It's really sad how commercial everything is becoming."
I guess this is part of The Change.
I am lucky. My children are old enough to remember why we celebrate Easter, without their usual chocolate reminder. They have their own personal relationships with our Savior. They have the benefit of two Christian parents, who will take them to church on Resurection Sunday to celebrate the true Easter gift...the gift of Eternal Life.