Wow.  I just noticed that my daughter (who will be four next week) has developed my same early morning gravelly baritone.  That sounds really funny coming from someone who sounds like a mouse when you talk to her over the phone!  I noticed when she woke up this morning and came out to the living room where I was quickly stashing the candy wrapper that had held my breakfast.
    Which leads me to my topic today:  Easter is so much better than Halloween.  And I'm not even referring to the whole 'resurrection of Christ' vs. 'Devil's holiday' issue.  (For the record, I'm pretty enthusiastic about the former.  It felt a bit blasphemous to not even mention it.)  I'm talking about the candy, people.  No taking candy from strangers!  That's so much less of a strain on my paranoid side.  All candy comes from "The Easter Bunny"  who only obtains his stash from my loved ones-- whom I trust not to poison my children.  Also, the candy is flat better.   None of the random "why would I waste a moment of my sugar binge on that nasty hunk of whatever-it-is?" candies.  Just good stuff:  chocolate, jelly beans, sour patch kids and more chocolate.  This is also a result of the loot coming from people we know.  They are purposely picking it out for a few people, rather than having to get the 'big bag' for all the trick-or-treaters.  Sure, my family also brings good candy on Halloween.  I don't want to take that away from them.  I'm just talking about how I don't have to spend any time at Easter sorting out the candy that will just go straight in the trash can so you don't have to dig past it to get to the good stuff.
    If you were paying attention at the beginning, you will have already noticed I admitted to stealing candy from my children.  My husband looked at me like I was crazy last night while I was eating a Reese's peanut butter cup.  I said, "What?  How else are we going to get rid of some of this stuff?"  He responded-- elbow deep in the candy bucket himself-- with:"Oh, is that how we're justifying it now?"  Now, I am quite certain we are not the only parents who do this.  I actually believe that any parent that denies doing this is a big fat liar, flaming slacks included.   My daughters got four Easter baskets each yesterday.  Then they went on two egg hunts that scored them even more candy.  Then they got a bevy of inedible treats as well:  books, stuffed animals, etc.  So it's not like I'm ruining their Easter.
    I do actually have a couple of rules that I follow to keep the girls from feeling as though they've been robbed.  I carefully select my candy.  I never take anything that there is only one of (or only one for each of them).  I also never take the last of any kind unless I am certain it is not a favorite.  I occasionally ask them if I can have a piece of candy so they can practice sharing-- but I wait a day or so to introduce this so a little of the greed wears off and makes it easier to let some of the candy go.  Then I eat the rest when they're asleep to help stealthily lower the level of candy in the bucket.  I'm sure their dentist approves of this practice.  I'm also sure my dentist does not.
    So, to all of my family Easter Bunny accomplices out there:  Thank you!  It's hard to have my girls show their gratitude properly when trying to maintain the fantasy of the rabbit, but you are loved and appreciated.  And to everyone else out there-- don't forget to throw away the wrappers!

CL