Easter egg

Do You Remember Those Plastic Easter Egg Adventures?

Posted on March 27, 2019 by

~  Easter eggs already? This is the first Easter since I became a mom that I will have no children at home. No egg hunt. No Easter baskets – except for the treats I mailed to Boston and Park City. Nada. Not sure I’ll even get any decorations out… I’ve been dreading Easter thinking of Easter for months…of course, this year would have to be the year that it falls at the END of April. I’ve fallen into a writing rut, spending much more time and energy on teaching than I should. It keeps me from the quiet of the empty nest, I guess.

Just to torture myself, I’m reading through old posts, and instead of writing about Easter without kids, I thought I’d spiff up this oldie-but-goodie. For all of you empty-nesters out there, can you send me some thoughts about how to distract myself from the Easter egg blues? 

Love, 

Jennifer

 

My daughter has always had a competitive streak. I’m not sure if it’s nature or nurture…being blessed as the first born of two first-born parents, first born grandparents and yes, even first-born great-grandparents definitely explain a few of her personality traits. I guess that new parents just get excited about everything….new. My husband and I couldn’t wait to start up family traditions with her, and one of our favorites involved Easter.

Both my husband and I came from families where Easter egg hunts were a big deal. We had very similar childhood experiences – we were required to dress in our best clothes, would drive to grandma and grandpa’s house in the Bay Area, and would gather with our aunts, uncles, and cousins in the backyard. The anticipation was huge…we knew there would be carefully hidden eggs, enough for everyone to fill at least one basket. If we were lucky and looked really hard, we could find something special, too.

Creating memories

When our daughter was born, we knew we wanted to re-create our childhood memories. For the first few years, it wasn’t that exciting-babies and toddlers couldn’t really rejoice in the vinegar egg dying process, and usually scream at the sight of a giant, hairy Easter bunny. However, by the time our girl was three-and-a-half, we were ready.

Easter morning in California is usually quite pleasant, and this year didn’t disappoint. We dressed her in a beautiful homemade cotton print dress, put on her white eyelet socks and black patent leather shoes. She looked like she could march in the finest Easter parade in town. Instead, we went into the garden.

A few days earlier, we had routinely dyed hard-boiled eggs and left them out the night before for the Easter Bunny to hide. But unbeknownst to our daughter, we had also hidden plastic Easter eggs, just to increase the fun. And to make it even more exciting, we (I) stuffed the plastic eggs before putting them in the garden. Pennies, jellybeans, beads, stickers and small candies went inside most of them, but when I ran out of treats, I left those empty.

The Easter egg hunt

Our egg hunt began as it always did-mom, dad and grandma scurrying after her, video cameras in hand. We exclaimed in unison as she found each egg, and helped her fill her basket. Soon she realized that there were three kinds of eggs-those that were hard-boiled, those that were plastic and made noise when she shook them and those that were plastic and empty.

Even at three years old, her competitive streak was showing, and instead of placing each egg in her basket as she found it, squealing in delight, she began shaking each one violently. If the appropriate sound resulted, the egg went in the basket. If the egg was silent, it went over her shoulder back into the bushes.

While we dissolved into peals of laughter, she meticulously made her way around the garden searching for the egg-booty. When satisfied she had covered all the territory, she announced, “All done”, and ran off into the house.

Pre-teenage Easter egg hunting

Easter egg memories

But pennies aren’t so exciting anymore -thank goodness gift cards are too big!

As a result, we found many discarded plastic Easter eggs in the garden that summer. Our attempt at starting a family tradition, however, was quite successful. Even now, our teenagers still prefer plastic to the real thing.

This post originally appeared on the Yahoo Contributor Network.

Jennifer Wolfe

Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.

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Comments: 8

  • JDaniel4's Mom

    April 9, 2012

    We started hunting with JDaniel early on. He loved to hunt and gather eggs.

    Reply
    • Jennifer Wolfe

      April 11, 2012

      I think hunting for eggs is such a magical thing…my teen still enjoys it! This year we hunted for eggs at the ski hill, though-more like a treasure hunt!

      Reply
  • CrazyNutsMom

    April 9, 2012

    What an adorable story! We did our egg hunt today and apparently missed a few too. I wonder how many are out there, the grass was pretty long. Lawn mower will find them if we dont.

    Reply
    • Jennifer Wolfe

      April 9, 2012

      Thanks! I think it’s kinda fun to find them all year long, actually! Hope you had a great Easter.

      Reply
  • leigh

    April 8, 2012

    I love hearing about other peoples Easter traditions. Real hard boiled eggs are new to me. They actually scare me – the thought of the egg being in and out of the fridge so many times and then getting eaten. In South Africa we only have chocolate eggs – YUM!
    No plastic, no real.
    By the way – the photo you took of the eggs is great!
    Leigh @oneandoneequalstwinfun.com

    Reply
    • Jennifer Wolfe

      April 9, 2012

      Leigh, I think I would love your chocolate egg tradition! It’s fun to dye real eggs, but I NEVER eat them-I agree with you! Plus, my kids don’t like boiled eggs anyway!

      Reply
  • Nishana

    April 8, 2012

    Beautiful… I am least knowledgeable about the fun and celebrations in Easter.. This is a lovely post..:)

    Reply
    • Jennifer Wolfe

      April 9, 2012

      Thanks, Nishana. Families celebrate Easter in so many ways-thanks for reading about mine!

      Reply
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