Finding Easter magic in melted candy, a stuffed bunny named Fluffy, and a little girl who believed she could take flight.
I found myself knee-deep in plastic grass and chocolate eggs once again this year. I was assembling Easter baskets for my boys and my granddaughter, and yes, those grown men still get baskets. and watching that same childhood wonder in their eyes as they reach for a basket, still curious about what might be tucked inside, is a full-circle blessing I don’t take for granted.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above…” — James 1:17
As I tucked candy into the bright green fringe, a memory from years ago came rushing back. It was a time when my oldest boys were small, I was a single mom working and going to school, and money was tighter than tight.
I had started collecting Easter treats weeks ahead, buying a little at a time to hide away. The night before Easter, after tucking the boys in, I went to the closet to retrieve my stash.
Every single piece had melted into one giant, sticky blob.
I dropped to my knees in tears. The guilt I already carried for working long hours and feeling like I was failing at motherhood boiled over. I was sure I had ruined Easter.
We lived in a tiny town long before the era of 24-hour Super Walmart and Dollar General on every corner. The nearest K-Mart was closed for the day, and I had exactly twenty dollars to my name.
I knocked on my neighbor’s door, asked her to listen for the boys, and drove into the night. I went from gas station to gas station, heart pounding, hoping to find anything that looked like Easter.
Finally, at a truck stop in the next town, I walked every aisle slowly, still sniffling. In a random clearance bin, I found two stuffed rabbits marked down to five dollars each. I grabbed them, a handful of the boys’ favorite candy bars, and a couple of Slim Jims.
I headed home to assemble what I was certain would be the most disappointing Easter baskets in the history of Easter baskets.
“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory” -Philippians 4:19
Years later, my grown sons and I were reminiscing about the holidays. One of them asked,
“Mom, you always said we were poor, but we always had so many presents under the Christmas tree and at holidays. How did you do that?”
I laughed and told them about my “Mommy magic.” Little knock-off Matchbox cars from multi-packs… opened up and wrapped one by one. Superhero sets were carefully taken apart, with the capes, swords, and tiny vehicles all wrapped separately like their own special surprise. I was stretching one gift into four to make the tree look fuller, and their hearts feel richer.
Then I told them about the “Melted Candy Easter” I thought I had ruined.
Gatlin’s face lit up. “FLUFFY?! Mom, that was the BEST Easter ever. I still have Fluffy.”
What I had labeled as my biggest failure was actually one of their sweetest memories.
“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” — Ephesians 3:20
This year felt like redemption in real time. As the “kids” dug through their baskets (Slim Jims still make the cut), the moment that stopped me belonged to my granddaughter, Addie. I’d tucked a Minnie Mouse kite into her basket. Every time the wind picked up, she’d yell, “There it is! Let’s go!” At one point, while my sister was untangling the string, Addie walked over and plopped herself right on top of the kite.
“Okay, I’m ready,” she said. “Let’s fly.”
I leaned over the porch railing.
“Adelaide, do you think you’re going to fly on that kite?”
Without a second of hesitation, she looked at me and said, “Yes, Grammie. I’m ready to fly.”
I felt it right in my chest. That pure, unshaken belief. That beautiful innocence that doesn’t stop to ask how. It just believes.
“Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you.” — Matthew 17:20
Years ago, I thought it was about getting everything perfect: the best candy, the right basket presentation, and the “enoughness” of it all, but from Fluffy the truck-stop bunny to Minnie Mouse kites, the magic was never in the gift. It was in the moments we didn’t even realize we were creating.
Sometimes it just looks like:
- A stuffed rabbit from a clearance bin.
- A little girl sitting on a kite, waiting for takeoff.
- Little boys holding tight to their favorite bunny.
- A mom who thought she was failing… unaware that God was turning her melted mess into favorite memories.
When we feel like we’ve fallen short, or when what we have doesn’t feel like “enough,” we must remember: God already has the Perfect Gift. Not because we got it perfect, but because He is! Even in the broken, melted, and meltdown moments, there is resurrection. In the ordinary, there is love. And in our “not enough,” He is more than enough.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” — 2 Corinthians 12:9
With much love, a little perspective… and always something to cast your line toward,
Katie ~~
“Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” — Matthew 4:19