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Saturday, April 23, 2011

Stories of Hardship - and a Very Happy Easter Wish to all my Favorite Peeps.

I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this - being a book blogger and all in my "spare time" - but I've never read the Little House on the Prairie books...  true.  No worries, though - I did watch the TV series... what kid in their right mind doesn't jump at the chance to sit in front of the television mindlessly after all?  I can't say as I remember a LOT of the episodes...  hmmm... Nellie was rotten to the core, Mrs Olsen had "the vapors", and Mary went blind...  did I miss any?  Oh yeah... the Christmas episode.

You know... the one where Mr Hairy Scary guy who looks like a big bear trudges around in the snow and nearly dies to bring the girls their Christmas Gifts from Santa... 

a tin cup, a barley stick, and nickels... 

Yeah - somehow I think it lacks the color and excitement we get in our house on most Christmas mornings when the wrapping paper alone costs far more than a barley stick. 

But Laura and Mary were ecstatic about those tin cups and things... maybe not ecstatic - but happy content... can we agree at least that they didn't complain within the earshot of Charles and Caroline?

Tales of hardship remind us of all we have - they make us grateful for the little things... and they are a wonderful tool of manipulation for parenting...

"Eat your Broccoli - there are starving children in Minneapolis"
"Put those shoes on right now and be grateful they're not 97% duct tape!"
"You'll eat that orange and enjoy it, you know great-grandma used to have to SHARE her oranges with her whole family and then content themselves with sniffing the peel for the next few months?"
"Run and catch the bus... for crying out loud I used to have to walk 2 miles to the bus stop.  Uphill.  Both Ways.  In The Snow.  Up to my Neck.  At 6 a.m."

I worry about my kids...

We're by no means rich...  but really - what tales of hardship will they have to frighten their kids with?

So we're doing something about it...

and years from now my children will look back on this Easter and tell their grandkids their tale of woe...

"When I was but a young'n I remember the Easter we woke up...  we looked and looked through all the baskets, we searched high and low through the plastic eggs... but we didn't get a single Marshmallow Peep."
insert sound of chirping crickets... or maybe chirping chicks... whichever...

The Horror!  Those great-grandchildren of mine will cower in terror whilst munching their peeps - and they will appreciate them gosh-darn!!!

*Disclaimer:  seriously, who'da thunk they'd sell out of Peeps? 

**Update:  I think we're off the hook for the therapy bills... ManOfTheHouse has located some Peeps after all...  but hey, I'd already written the blog post and I'm certainly not going to remove it just because of a few little issues with "accuracy" :)

***and a teensy little moment of being serious... I wish you and yours a happy and thoughtful Easter Holiday - may we all truly remember that it is about far more than colorful eggs and Marshmallow Peeps.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Shame on you! lol. Easter is NOT Easter without peeps....*sigh*

On a more serious note though, Glad Man of the House got some. Whew! I was beginning to worry.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful easter as well!
Love ya T!

Kristina P. said...

Back when I read books that didn't have pictures, I think I read the Little House series.

Do you know they sell chocolate covered Peeps? Heaven.

Nutty Hamster Chick said...

Happy Easter to you also.

stephanie said...

am I the only one who thinks peeps are nasty?

Little house books are the best. You really should read them.. and I remember that christmas episode well.

Megz said...

I bought one package of peeps at the beginning of the month to see if any of my kids would eat 'em. Only one did, so it wasn't worth buying any more.
It was the cadbury mini eggs that were missing from my walmart a couple weeks ago that had me in a frenzy.

Teachinfourth said...

If ever I get any Peeps, I'll send them your way...

ALL of them.

Of course, I did have a bit of a crush on Nancy for a while, too bad she was spoiled.

Saimi said...

Awe pa! How many time is Laura say that..love both the books and the t.v. series...Micheal Landon was a hottie...or was that when he was on Bonanza!

Hope you had a great Easter!!

Charlotte said...

I also never read those books. But my mom used to laugh at me when the TV show made me cry (or was that Highway to Heaven? His shows are all mixed together in my memory).

Anyway, my sister nearly missed out on peeps, too. Even worse she didn't get to the store in time to get Cadbury Eggs. Talk about childhood killer.

Jen T said...

Ha! Ha! my family all see those peeps and gag!