easter eggs-cellence {guest post}

Hello all!  I'm Janet, Cailen’s Mom.  Cai truly works on designing a beautiful life, and she inspires me daily.  Many of these past moments that I share with you reflect her love of tradition and all things family.   Thanks to Cai, once again, for allowing me to write another blog.  xo to her!

And the ritual begins:

Remove tablecloth from kitchen table, if one is in place
Layer the table with newspaper or a blanket’s worth of paper towels
Gather waxy crayons, stickers, paints, empty egg cartons & rubber bands (you’ll see why)

The Players:

A few dozen hard boiled eggs - or more than probably necessary
Teacups or coffee mugs, half full with the vinegar/water/dye-tablet concoction at the ready
Spoons to try to rescue the eggs

cailen.  many moons ago...

I guess that you can tell what’s going to happen here.  We dye eggs for an Easter Egg Hunt every year, whether it’s inside or out, for 4 people or 24.  The cast of egg-decorating artists changes from year to year, but it always includes family of varying ages, and often a good friend or two.

This can be a lot of fun for a group of any age – you don’t need a child in place to make this ok.  There’s usually an adult that can ‘fit that bill’ as they say, and we have a few.  Put on some great sing-along music, have a Springtime inspired soup and some crispy breads and herbed butters at the ready nearby, and hand out the aprons.  Yes, everyone should wear one. 

austin's rubberband egg

The understudies to these finished “finely decorated, perfectly dyed and gloriously detailed” (smile here because this is said in jest) Easter eggs are the plastic cuties in rainbows of colors that had been waiting in a large bin on a basement shelf for a year.   They get filled with jelly beans and maybe a ‘peep’, or a tiny, silly toy and some pennies.  Chocolate never goes into these in case our Labs, Duncan and Colby happen to be the ones that find them first.   – Long time ago, our old (huge) lab mix named Taz climbed onto the dining room table and ate 2 Easter baskets worth of candy, chocolate and all, while we were out.   Thus, the name Tazmanian Devil. -

After the hunt:  In younger years,  when all the family kids were little, we’d gather up  a couple of quilts to put in the tractor’s wagon to provide a bumpy-but-fun ride for anyone willing to climb in.  Usually it would be the 10 and below group, but you’d never know.  Down the long drive, out onto the country road and into the field they’d go, squealing most of the way.  Those were very good times! 

Not Easter related, just bunny related:  There’s a 1950 Oscar winning film called “Harvey” about a gentle, odd sort of guy who takes life one minute at a time.  He thinks the very best of everyone and says so.  Nothing bothers him.   Now, here’s where the bunny part comes in… this mild mannered guy, Elwood P. Dowd, happens to have an invisible 6’ rabbit-friend named Harvey.  Harvey, being invisible, made Jimmy Stewart’s acting all the more finessed and appreciated.  Implausible and yet entertaining, this simple old movie may take a bit of patience to get through now, but has a real honest-to-goodness moral.   It’s sort of what Abraham Lincoln once said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. “   I like that.

So, enjoy the Springtime, thanks again for reading and I look forward to sharing with you next month! 

My best to all, Janet


thanks, mom!  another fabulous post.  speaking of posts...did you see my mom's last post about her favorite whole-in-the-wall bar called the boat house?  it's totally worth a read.  you'll be jealous of this little gem : )