I told her, "Wait a minute, I have to talk to you about that." and waited until there were no little ears around. I hugged her close and whispered that I needed her help to BE the Easter Bunny. Her eyes got HUGE(er than normal) as the pieces started clicking into place and she kept repeating,
"You mean...there's no such thing as the Easter Bunny?" over and over.
I kept putting my hand over her mouth and whispering, "YES! There IS such a thing, but it doesn't have actual ears or fur and now, it has brownish-red, curly hair!". She hovered on the cusp of belief/disbelief with a look of stricken panic. I comforted her by saying, "NOW, you get to HELP me pick out stuff at the store, fill the Easter baskets, hide all the eggs for the kids on Sunday, and BEST OF ALL, you get to go over to Grandma's the day before Easter and make ALL the colored eggs (the Easter Bunnies in our family are VERY busy bunnies. We do dozens and dozens of eggs. It's quite a process, like a factory with all kinds of experimentation, color combos, etc.. The nice thing about all of these years of this tradition is: even the 'mistakes' are beautiful)!". She thought about it for a minute then looked a teeny bit relieved.
The wheels clicked along for another minute and she giggled nervously but then the light bulb went on and she said, "HA! NOW, I can TELL you what to put in there!".
Just for good measure, in a dazed voice, she said again, "There's no such thing as the..." then I clamped her mouth again (little ones running around) and whispered...
"The thing about Easter Bunny Secret Club is: You don't talk out loud about Easter Bunny Secret!!!! Not in front of the little ones! You don't even give HINTS! This is a HUGE responsibility, handed down from the ages. It's for big kids and grown ups ONLY!".
I am relieved that it's done because she's soon to get her First Communion and I thought it would be a good time for her to know. I always doubt my decision until the fun stuff kicks in and then I'm glad. She's getting so grown up but I'd really like my baby Weazy back again. I'm not sure what to think of this beautiful young lady that's taking her place.
