April 1, 2026 6:00 AM
LAST EASTER I FAILED as a mom. I failed to mail a chocolate bunny to my adult son who lives in Boston. It wasn’t that I forgot, but rather that I didn’t want to spend the money for a chunk of chocolate which seemed overpriced at the time. I also really didn’t think my son cared all that much about getting a bunny from me. He did.
So this year, more than a week before Easter, I picked up a 3-ounce solid chocolate bunny for $2.97 and mailed it for $8.10. Not exactly fiscally smart. But sometimes you can’t put a price on tradition, love and expectations of a loved one.
That got me thinking about Easter traditions, both secular and faith-based. Easter, for me, has always been a mix of each with the primary focus on celebrating Christ’s resurrection.
As a child, I dyed eggs with my five siblings and parents, something I continued with my three children. As a child, I set my repurposed yellow plastic cottage cheese container, filled with plastic grass, on the kitchen table. The next morning my siblings and I awakened way too early to search for our Easter “baskets” hidden somewhere inside our farmhouse.
I’m sure Mom would have preferred we slept in. But you can’t curtail a child’s excitement over getting candy, a rare treat back in the day. The goal was always to find our baskets before heading to worship services at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Vesta.
If we could get away with it, we inked our arms with temporary tattoos from the Easter egg dyeing kit. Mom preferred we wait until after church to stamp our skin. But we kids didn’t always listen.
We did, however, listen when Mom told us to get ready for church, the boys in their suits or other dress clothes and us girls in our Easter dresses and bonnets. Or as my sister still reminds me, in the ugly yellow daisy dress handed down from me to her.
I still remember with great fondness the ensemble—a lime green skirt and jacket with a sleeveless floral top—stitched by my godmother one Easter. I carried a lime green purse, completing the fashionable look. Oh, how I wish I still had that 1960s outfit. Perhaps my granddaughter could wear it. Or maybe not. She might just tell me, “To be honest with you, Grandma…,” as she did recently about a frozen cheese pizza she didn’t like.
Once my siblings and I arrived at St. John’s in our Easter finery, we scampered up the steep steps to the balcony. There we joyously sang “I Know That My Redeemer Lives” with other Sunday School students. That remains my favorite Easter hymn.
While decades have passed since those childhood Easters back on the southwestern Minnesota prairie, the lessons I learned and the faith that grew inside me remain strong.
Now, as the aging matriarch of the family, I find our Easter celebration evolving. My eldest daughter and her husband often host Easter dinner. And if I don’t worship at my own church, Trinity Lutheran, I join her family for worship in their Lakeville church, ironically named St. John’s.
Halfway across the country, my son will likely be alone on Easter. But he will at least have the chocolate bunny I mailed to him from Minnesota, without fail this year.
© Copyright 2026 Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Posted by Audrey Kletscher Helbling
Categories: Uncategorized
Tags: chocolate bunny, Christ's resurrection, church services, Easter, Easter candy, Easter traditions, faith, family, memories, southwestern Minnesota, stories, worship
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“But sometimes you can’t put a price on tradition, love and expectations of a loved one.” I think this should hold true at all times, not just at special times like Easter.
By Vanmarmot's Travels on April 1, 2026 at 6:20 AM
Good point and I agree.
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 1, 2026 at 1:08 PM
Wishing you a blessed Easter season, dear Audrey.
By Ruth on April 1, 2026 at 6:47 AM
Thank you, Ruth. Randy and I are especially grateful this Easter. Have a joyful and blessed Easter, my friend.
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 1, 2026 at 1:09 PM
You had some lovely Easter Traditions growing up, and it’s sweet to see that they’ve made their way into the next generations.🐰🐇🥚🐣🐥💞 I’m so glad your son is getting his traditional bunny. Easter snuck up on me this year, I thought it was still a couple weeks away…
By Rose on April 1, 2026 at 1:51 PM
That chocolate bunny should land in his Boston mailbox today.
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 1, 2026 at 2:04 PM
I love reading about people’s holiday traditions, what they remember and how they change over time. my siblings and I often remember different things about the same holidays when we compare notes, but it’s probably due to being different ages and stages and having different perspectives. it is kind of bittersweet when things move from one generation to the next, as far as hosting, or not all being together, but it is in the natural order of things, the handing down from one generation to another, the movement of families as they grow, just like sending the chocolate from one generation to another no matter where they are.
By beth on April 1, 2026 at 3:57 PM
You’re right.
The son got his chocolate bunny in the mail today…and ate the three ounces of chocolate already. I guess I should have sent him two bunnies, to make up for the one I missed sending last Easter. 🙂
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 1, 2026 at 8:54 PM
sentimental math ❤
By beth on April 2, 2026 at 7:05 AM
I like that phrase.
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 2, 2026 at 1:34 PM
This was fun to read. I get it about the bunny…we’re sending fun little packages to India…and it costs more to ship than the actual items. Fortunately shipping rate is only to Washginton DC
By Valerie on April 1, 2026 at 4:46 PM
You clearly understand…
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 1, 2026 at 8:55 PM
then delivered on.
By Valerie on April 1, 2026 at 4:46 PM
Those traditions are important even as we get older. I have many fun memories of Easter traditions as well. We had great childhoods.
By Beth Ann on April 2, 2026 at 6:31 AM
We did have great childhoods, not something I take for granted. We were loved, had what we needed and grew up in the faith.
By Audrey Kletscher Helbling on April 2, 2026 at 1:32 PM