Dear Springtime,

you are very inspiring.  you make me do strange things.  like plant a vegetable garden in my backyard.  should be interesting to see if anything grows, considering i didn't take into detailed account the spacing of the seeds.

after reading this great article detailing how to plant everything in texas i might have done a few things differently. 

when life gives you eggs, make an egg tree. my thoughtful mother saved these hand painted wooden eggs from when we were growing up, and let me use them to make my own homemade egg tree.  kinna funny that  it only symolizes sweet childhood memories, not the reason for the easter holiday at all. every mother has their own way of doing things differently from their mother--no offense to mine, she did a wonderful job if i am trying to mimic her easter egg tree! well, one of my goals as an individual mom is to emphasize the special meanings behind the symbols of religious holidays (along with teaching about god's creation on a daily basis).  did you know that in christian times, the egg was a symbol of new life just as a chick might hatch from the egg? 

we know about the egg, but what about the rabbit?  the hare was was associated with the pagan celebration of the goddess Eostre, from whom the word Easter is derived. Eostre was associated with fertility, so was connected to both hares and eggs as symbols.

there will always be some sort of symbol around a holiday and i think it is important not to be confused or confuse little ones.  my hope is that my children will understand and question all things that god has created.  when do you draw the line at letting them believe in a fairytale and showing them the true meaning?  for example, the easter traditions of the easter bunny and easter eggs do not have any real ties to the christian celebration of easter, but rather these easter traditions, that are practiced today, are evolved from pagan symbols.  if there is some significance that i can relay from praying/researching (ie. the egg symbolizing new life), then it is good.  if it is a false representation of the holiday, ie. santa clause, and i cannot come up with any reasonable relation to christ, then i disagree. 

reminder: must discuss with husband tonight.