I hate to break this to you, but if you get the reference in the title of this post you are OLD!
Actual screenshot from the M&Ms commercial that can be used as an age test. Do you think either of these kids ever lived this down? How many times a day do you think that kid had to hear "Bok! Bok!"?
It's from a 1978 M&Ms commercial that also ran throughout the 1980s. I guarantee if you walk up to any 50 year old, they will instantly smile and get lost in their memory. Then, while they are distracted, you can steal their wallet!
Like I said, I'm old. If that memory wasn't bad enough, the fact that both of my kids are too old for all of the best Easter fun makes me feel ancient. It seems like only yesterday I was hiding plastic eggs filled with chocolate in the back yard. And yes. I do mean plastic eggs filled with CHOCOLATE... in the yard... in the sun... waiting for hours until it was time for my kids to look for them. Do you know chocolate left inside plastic eggs in the sun looks like? If you have ever changed a diaper, the answer is "yes". So yeah I did that many years ago.
And now I miss it. I also miss staying up too late, being exhausted and deciding Saturday night at midnight was the best time to hide eggs around the house. Did I do anything to guarantee I'd remember where I hid them the next day? Nope. Do I still find eggs from 2011 under a couch cushion or behind the nutmeg in a kitchen cabinet? Maybe. By the way, does nutmeg expire? Never mind.
I really do miss getting to convince my kids that a 7 foot tall humanoid rabbit monster had wandered through our house while they slept. Why do so many teenagers have anxiety again? No clue.
Yeah imagine this thing walking around your house in the dead of night. Terrified? You're welcome. (This GIF came up as "free to use commercially... to terrify your children")
Because I put cash in it, my kids still humor me by searching for their Easter basket's that I hide. My son even came back from college to claim that cash and give his old man a little fun. This year I was brilliant! I emptied all of the dirty dishes, that I had just loaded last night, from the dishwasher. I then hid the basket in there thinking my kids would never in 1 million years look in the dishwasher. I've never seen them put anything into or take anything out of there so I just assumed it was invisible to them. Should I have started the dishwasher and then emptied the clean dishes out? Yeah. Maybe... if I wanted to plan this out. But planning is stupid. I'd much rather waste my time emptying dishes back into the sink. As an added bonus, my wife LOVED this idea. She was neither grossed out or annoyed with me. (Or at least that is the story I'm sticking to when I have my day in court).
And this hassle was totally worth it! I loved watching my kids agonize over finding my brilliant hiding spot... for exactly 4 minutes and 51 seconds (Yes. I timed it.) My daughter was even faster. Because my son didn't get here until lunch, I thought I could hide it in the same spot and see who could find it faster. Neither one of them even broke a sweat in their search. Things were so much easier before they mastered the concept of object permanence. I used to be the peek-a-boo champion of the Midwest... now I'm some broken down has-bin who can't even hide a basket from 2 people who believed in giant humanoid rabbit monsters until not that long ago.
Damn it! I gotta go. I need to wash the dishes.
Happy Easter!
