Egg Hunting

What’s Easter without an egg hunt? When I was young, my church had an Easter egg hunt the Saturday before Easter. We boiled and colored dozens of eggs the night before. The next day, we went to the church to hide the eggs. We sat on the floor so we couldn’t peak out the windows, while the eggs were being hid. When the eggs were hidden, we went outside to hunt.  We scattered in every direction in search of the hidden treasures.

Once spotted, we ran to the spot, before anyone else could get there. One of the frustrations of egg hunting, was the sneaky kid who watched for the look of excitement on the face of a hunter, when an egg was spotted.  Then raced to the coveted egg.  This kid never found eggs on their own, just stole the ones other kids found.  There was always a big duck’s egg hidden as a prize egg, and finding it was especially exciting.  I could not wait to count the eggs to see if I would win the prize.  Prizes were usually big, solid chocolate bunnies. Yummy!

When my children were little, I organized an egg hunt for the church we went to at the time.  I loved Easter egg hunts so much during my childhood, I could not imagine my children being deprived of the joy.  The children were delighted.  We hunted in age groups, as there were several children.  In addition to real eggs, we hid plastic eggs filled with candy and small toys, making sure each child had at least one plastic egg, even if we had to slip one into their basket during counting.  Everyone went home a winner.  Oh, there were the big prizes for prized egg and the most eggs, but the little prizes were just as special. 

After church on Easter Sunday, we went to my parent’s house for a wonderful dinner with my siblings and their families.  The kids could not wait to get out of their Easter clothes and into their hunting clothes.  The adults hid, the kids hunted… and hunted… and hunted.  All afternoon, until the adults were too tired to continue.  There were no prizes, just the joy of the hunt.  At the end of the day, the eggs looked battered and chipped, but the kids wore smiles and had memories to share with their children.  And share they did.  They now hide and their kids hunt… and hunt… and hunt!