Easter 2021: The Hunt is On
The Lord is Risen!
This morning began early. Not because Xavier rose before the sun (he, in fact, had to be awakened), but because we had to be at church at 0730.
Rebecca spent part of her week preparing snacks and a light breakfast spread for the pastors and workers at the church. They had four services to get through this morning and little time to eat in between.
After his head cleared of the grogginess of being awakened before 0600, Xavier found his Easter basket on the dining table.
He was at first concerned. He left it in the hallway outside his room before going to bed. But when he left his room in the morning, it was not there.
After going through all that the Easter Bunny had filled his basket with (thank you Aunt Chelle for the basket, he used the basket you gave him yesterday), it was time for the hunt. He had only about 20 minutes, so it was off to the races.
However, with Xavier, there was no real concept of a rush to find the booty hidden around the house.
His method of searching was to look for anything in front of him. Looking behind or under did not often occur to him.
He did remember that the Bunny hid stuff under the leather cushions of the couches last year, and so looked there.
He was not disappointed.
Rebecca and I discussed how we remember racing into a room and grabbing as much as we could find. We looked behind, up, down and under after snatching up the obvious.
We decided the difference between Xavier's hunting style and our childhood style is, in part, due to lack of competition. Both Rebecca and I had a sister to compete against.
Xavier made several passes through the upstairs rooms. During his initial pass, he found the obviously placed goodies. Dad and Mom had to coach him to look in other places.
In some cases, the game of Hot/Cold was used to guide Xavier to find a prize.
This year, instead of leaving his Easter basket in his room, the Bunny left it on the dining room table. But, this year, the Bunny hid a number of items in Xavier's room. This fact did not escape Xavier's notice, and he commented on the difference.
By the time Xavier needed to get cleaned up, eat breakfast and get dressed, he had found most of the goodies.
We all put extra effort into dressing for church this morning. With Church baskets loaded, we all headed out to the early (and first) Easter service.
Christ is Risen!