Remembering the Easter Egg Hunt

1st Easter Egg Hunt

This year community or church Easter egg hunts have been called off.  Parks are closed so no family gatherings or games can be held.  For the sake of everyone;s health we are all staying home.  Is anyone doing something special for East this year?  Will Egg hunts be a thing of the past?  Can you share a prayer and a story of your favorite Easter with your family today?

When I was a child, we all went to church on Sunday in our new Easter clothes.  Not only was my immediate family there, but many of my extended relatives.  We would leave the church and head for Grandma's house for lunch, followed by family pictures, and then an Easter egg hunt for all kids under 13, and special desserts all day!  Our egg hunt included a boiled egg that said PRIZE on the side (using the white wax pen that came with egg coloring kits or black magic marker after it was dyed).  An offering was taken of change from adults' pockets to give to the person who found  the prize egg.  Later on, as I remember it, my most-fashionable aunt bought Leggs hosiery as part of her Easter ensemble so we would have the giant plastic egg to use as the prize egg for the hunt.  Then that giant egg was passed around the adults who added change and dollar bills as their part of the prize.  Then this special egg was hidden especially well so it would be hardest to find by all the grandkids participating.

By the time I and all my cousins were adults with children, Leggs stopped using the giant plastic eggs as their trademark.  So we had to buy the plastic eggs you stuff for our children.  Since you could not put as much in an egg, we decided to have 2 money eggs and the other eggs were stuffed with jelly beans or kisses.  It was typically an older child that found the prize eggs, only once was it my son.

I do remember my child's first Easter egg hunt.  He was a toddler and my spouse was anxious for him to use his oversized Easter basket to hunt eggs.  I had to carry the basket for him, as he could barely walk while trying to balance it.  The "Get Ready-Get Set-Go"was said and all the older children ran to the bushes, trees, and to the bottom of the hill to search out the prize egg.  My son picked up a colored egg ignored by the other children, as it was near the top of the hill.  Instead of putting the egg in his basket, he sat down in the grass to thoroughly examine it! I finally got him up again and the egg into his basket.  We placed a couple more ignored eggs into his basket, then he became interested in the pretty flowers or watching the other children verses getting more eggs.  Just as he started to get the concept of putting eggs into his basket, the other kids had started back up the hill collecting eggs they previously overlooked.  Fortunately for him, after the hunt was over, one of his cousins noticed his nearly empty basket and shouted something like "baby don't got many eggs!"  Then that cousin put one of their eggs in my sons basket,  soon other cousins did the same until most of the fake grass in his basket could no longer be seen.  I think he enjoyed the attention of his "big kid" cousins much more than any part of the hunt.

What special Easter traditions does your family have?  What are your fondest memories?  Is you are willing to share, feel free to put them in the comments.