Photographs With The Easter Bunny

Hey, guys and gals!  Welcome to Easter Week in A POP CULTURE ADDICT'S GUIDE TO LIFE! 

This week, I'll be taking a look at some Easter traditions and customs (mostly modern day ones, as I am far from being the religious type), and hopefully you will like what I have planned.  After all, six of the seven entries will have some reference to Easter.

(It's kind of hard to find one for the Tuesday Timeline entry.)

Even so, I think that this is going to be a lot of fun, so let's get on with the commencement of Easter Week.

So, to begin, I want to ask you all a question.  What is the very first thing you think of when you think Easter?

Certainly many of you will point out the fact that it is a holiday that is faith based, which is very much true.  But when it comes to symbols of Easter, what do you think of?

Some might think of chocolate.  And why not?  Next to Valentine's Day and perhaps Halloween, Easter is one of the holidays where a lot of chocolate is sold - and where a lot of dentists make their fortunes, apparently.  True, while chocolate is quite important in the Easter, that's not what this blog is about.

Maybe some of you immediately thought of Easter eggs.  After all, the eggs that are dyed in bright pastel colours are a tradition of modern-day Easter.  The White House has hosted an annual Easter egg hunt every year for as long as I can remember!  And yes, we will be talking about Easter eggs in this blog - but not today.

Maybe some of you immediately thought of the baby chicks that hatch out of eggs.  Well, okay, I've never seen a chick hatch out of an Easter egg dyed in purple and orange.  Nor have I ever seen chicks in either one of those colours.  But chicks are definitely an unofficial Easter mascot.

However, if you want me to name the one thing that I consider a true sign of Easter...well, you need not go any further than the good old Easter Bunny!

(Note, I said Easter Bunny.  Not Easter BEAGLE.  Although, I do love that Peanuts special!)

Yeah, as far back as I can remember, I have always had a soft spot for the wonderful Easter Bunny.  How could I not?  He always brought wonderful treats every Easter Sunday to snack on and he always looked so cute and cuddly and soft.  Just made you want to hug him!

Of course, I admit that my love for the Easter Bunny might have been a little biased.  Who could resist the clucking bunny in the Cadbury commercials?

Sigh.  No matter how old I get, I love that clucking bunny.  The Cadbury Creme Eggs though, not so much.  I love sweets, but those things are TOO sweet.

Of course, one of the earliest memories that I have of the Easter Bunny was going to the local shopping mall to visit him and get my photo taken with him.  And I think that I made my parents take me every year until I was at least seven.

Want proof?  Below would be a photo taken at our local shopping mall circa 1986.  At least, I want to say it was 1986.  Could have been 1987, though.  Either way, I was old enough to know that lace up shoes were a pain and that velcro was (at the time) my shoe of choice. 

Now, I have no idea what I was doing in this photo.  Maybe I was tired and rested my chin on my hand.  Maybe I lifted my arm up because I wanted to feel more comfortable on the Easter Bunny's lap.  Maybe I was "voguing" before Madonna made it a #1 smash single.  Either way, the pose that I was making surprisingly works in this photo.  It's probably one of the few childhood photos that I feel comfortable sharing on this blog, to tell you the truth.

Of course, I always remembered seeing the Easter Bunny at the mall.  However, when I posted this same photo a few years ago on social media for one of those "Throwback Thursday" postings, some people seemed genuinely shocked that shopping plazas even did stuff like that for Easter. 

I can see their point.  Everyone is used to taking their children out to see Santa Claus for Christmas.  It's been a tradition since "Miracle on 34th Street" was released - maybe even earlier than that!  But while you see so many pictures of kids posing on Santa's lap every Christmas, you don't really see too many Easter Bunny photos.  Though I will say this.  The photos that I have seen are mostly cute.

Mind you, some of those Easter Bunny costumes could be frightening.  If I had to sit on the lap of the following photos that I found, I reckon that the tone of this blog entry would be radically different.

Instead of praising the Easter Bunny, I would be so traumatized that the sight of a carrot would cause me to hyperventilate and break out in a cold sweat.

Admit it.  You would too.