Maxine Lee-Mackie’s Easter traditions

Maxine Lee-Mackie, author of Dear Easter Bunny, writes about her Easter traditions. The Easter Bunny has lots to do before delivering eggs to children around the world. Luckily her superspectacular Eggatron chocolate making machine can help! But when Easter Bunny's chick helpers start putting their own recipes into the machine, the eggs start to go very wrong... Will they be able to work together to help save the easter eggs?

Easter brings renewal, hope, and its own traditions. For us, it’s a bit like Christmas, but all hope of snow is lost. Obviously there’s a lot more chocolate involved. And hot cross buns too.  For me, preparing for Easter is about fun, family, and taking a little bit of time to think about the year ahead. In my book, Dear Easter Bunny, I touched on the things that make Easter fun, with a little bit of quirkiness thrown in. I should say here that I do not have an Eggatron or any Cheeps hanging around waiting to help me out.

The preparation begins with chocolate sampling. I have to test what’s on offer before  making important decisions about the Easter egg list. Then I can focus on creating a warm and cosy home by having a big spring clean and clear-out, so that means lots of trips back and forth to the charity shop. Once everywhere feels refreshed, it’s nice to bring in some fresh spring flowers and put my ancient eggshell candle holder out (and refuse to use it until Easter Sunday).

One of my favourite Easter traditions is writing letters to the Easter Bunny, much like the ones featured in my book. We always encouraged the children to do this when they were small. In return, the Easter Bunny would leave replies like this for them:

“Yo E! You have THE BEST taste in Easter eggs! I love your new haircut, it’s very cool. Stay fresh, bro. Peace and love, EB.”

Accompanied by some glittery footprints and a half-eaten carrot, this always raised a smile and the note would take pride of place on the fridge for weeks after.

The annual Easter Hunt would always take some ‘outside the box’ thinking. Especially if it turned out to be a rainy day. Those times, we’d have to get creative and find little nooks and crannies indoors. These days, the annual Easter Hunt consists of me trying to remember where I stashed the Easter Eggs (and if I accidentally ate one or two).

These little acts of imagination and fun encourage everyone to embrace family traditions, no matter how small or silly they may seem. Preparing special treats and one big family meal to bring us all together is the thing I look forward to the most. A good old catch up with everyone and then watching my mum attempt to mime things like ‘Lobster in a supermarket’ after dessert when we wheel the board games out. A time to be together.