It was a night-night routine like any other: tuck under the blankets, prayers, start her instrumental music CD, talk about happy things for her to think about to keep bad dreams away and, of course, hugs-n-kisses. Then, Nia started firing the questions at me:
“Is the Easter Bunny just a mascot?”
“Um, I’m not sure.”
“Are you really the one who hides the eggs?
“What do you want to believe?”
“That you sleep and the Easter Bunny comes then. But is it you? Tell the truth.”
I totally fail at a response and lean over to hug her and hide my horrible poker-player face. Then, successfully (terribly) change subject.
The questions are flying and I have zero clue how to answer them. I really struggle with all the magical people in my children’s lives and discussing things I don’t even fully understand. Not just about the bunny or Santa either. More so about God.
Nia wants to know: “Was God born? How was God just there? He had to come from somewhere.”
I don’t know how to respond. All I can say is I believe He was just there. He was first. I want to believe that. I will try to give Bean what she wants for as long as I can, too.
I feel the spirit of all of it is rooted in positivity and is meant for good. I get that feeling from my belief in God. I hope she will understand the intention was never to deceive and hurt. I’m also hoping I’ll know the right time to discuss it with her. The night before Easter just didn’t feel right. Or maybe it was perfect…a confession of sorts.
Where is that basket so I can candy myself into a sugar haze and forget this until she brings it up again? Maybe then will be the right time.
Are You Zhazha? 
My parents always presented it from a spiritual helper point of view. That the Easter Bunny was real, because he was the spirit of Easter – he was a reminder to each of us that it is spring, that excitement was afoot, and that Jesus was risen. He is a mascot! That’s actually kind of ingenious on her part. But, just like the elves at the mall, he needs help to get everything done. There’s lots of kids in the world who want eggs and baskets. Just like the farmers help by selling eggs at the market so we can dye them, Mom and Dad take on some of the responsibility and help by hiding eggs for little ones who aren’t old enough to know about the spiritual Easter Bunny. Treat her like a grown-up and answer her questions as best you can. It’s not a lie if there’s a bit of truth. For Santa, he was the spirit of Christmas, and he needs help to get to everyone. To this day, I still get excited for Santa and the Easter Bunny and we didn’t even do baskets this year. In terms of God, I think it’s okay to say that you don’t know and even the smartest people in the world don’t know. Talk to her about science. Tell her that the Big Bang is a theory – a good one – but we don’t know if it was God flushing the toilet or turning on a light that caused it.
I lied through my teeth about Santa, the Bunny, the Tooth Fairy…forever…..just in case there was a hint….until the kids said, “thanks Mom for the Easter basket”.