Tuesday, April 10, 2007

I don't know where the tradition of the Easter Bunny started, and I certainly find it hard to believe that with the bunny came hiding colorful eggs. It's kind of a twisted version of Chik-fa-lay's cow saying "eat more chicken."

Somebody is going to write me and tell me where it all began 'cause you know how to use google. You have my permission not to do this.

When our children were little, we hid eggs for them. I imagine we were bad parents 'cause I think we told them the Bunny hid the eggs. I can tell you though, that they thoroughly enjoyed this tradition, and knew sooner rather than later that there was no Bunny out hiding eggs. It didn't scar them for life, and they didn't develop trust issues with us as a result.

Every year, they would anxiously await "the hunt." They could not wait to be set free to race around the yard looking in incredulous places for ovoid orbs. Gleefully they would move. It did not matter what weather came with it, they were out in it, joyfully hunting down those little bunny prizes.

This year, we spent Easter at the house of some new friends. They have a large beautiful home on a small lot. They have meticulously landscaped their home and it is lovely. There were lots of nooks and cranny's to hide eggs...or so we thought.

When I used to hide eggs for my kids, I always counted them ahead of time to be sure the number would divide out evenly in the end. Was I alone in this pursuit of equity.

I found I also hid way too few eggs for my children. For Easter dinner, there were four couples and four children. The kids were aged 4th to 6th grades. They could not wait for "the hunt." They kept prompting Grandma to "get the men outside hiding the eggs."

Have you ever noticed that when children's hearts are full of anticipation, that adults are great procrastinators? Anticipation can turn to frustration on a dime. We needed to get moving.

I went outside to avoid the "rule-setting" talk that Grandma gave. Every family has similar rules, I wanted to avoid the question and answer session, and just enjoy the back yard.

I am supposed to be living in the south or the west or something here in Oklahoma. April here is supposed to be warm. It was 45 degrees outside on Easter afternoon! I'm trying to remember an Easter when it wasn't 45 degrees (or worse) outside. What is the deal with that? No matter when Easter falls, so does the temperature?

When Grandma came outside to hand out the bags of eggs for us to hide, I about fell over. When I hid eggs for our children, I usually hid enough for each child to have 20 to 30 eggs. Apparently I raised my children in the "Easter Bunny Slums."

She brought out hundreds of eggs! I was stunned. This was a small yard, how were we going to "hide" all of these eggs?

I learned something else. Apparently, the words "hunt" and "hide" were terms that should have been reserved for my poor, abused children. Or maybe it was that the landscape would not support the effort of hiding a bazillion eggs.

I took my 50 pound bag of plastic eggs and began to "hide" them. This was serious business. Deanna and I set out putting them in "undetectable" spots (she had a 50 pound bag too...so did all the adults!). These were older children, I was sure they were up for the "hunt."

Have you ever noticed that when kids hunt for eggs that they move in packs? Apparently, that is supposed to be the etiquette for hiding them as well. Deanna and I aren't very good at french words that end in -ette.

The back yard was void of adults, save Deanna and me. We moved out of the back and headed to the front. My expectation was to find the rest of our friends.

Instead, what I found caused me to laugh so hard, I could hardly move...Deanna too. Apparently we were taking the stealth of this whole experience way too seriously.

I always hid eggs in Indiana. This was not Indiana. This was Oklahoma. Apparently in Oklahoma, you don't hide the eggs.

The front yard was littered with color. There were little eggs everywhere. You could not walk without stepping on them. They were just laying on the grass. These were older children. I don't think they were going to be fooled by these obvious "hiding places."

After we shared a good laugh, we realized that it was not "Oklahoma tradition" we were experiencing. It was that every adult had soooo many eggs to hide, and this small yard just would not handle the sheer numbers of pastel projectiles.

When the time finally came, the young ones thoroughly enjoyed racing about the yard, in a pack, stepping on each other and the eggs, until all were collected. They even went inside and divided things up evenly.

That was a whole lot of candy and money.

I should have been hunting eggs instead of hiding eggs.

Well we weren't with our family, but we certainly were blessed by the time with our new friends. Great food. Great fellowship. Great laughter.

This is the body of Christ!

brent

3 Comments:

At 11:21 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Funny stuff!!!! Thanks for the laugh. We hid ours in the house for the granddaughters. The low 30's was to cold for us.

 
At 12:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Brent and Deanna, just a note to announce that, for lent, I started reading the bible from front to back. I was one of the many who has read the first five or so chapters of Genesis 30+ times over my life, only to get side tracked. This time I'm almost to Job. (I'm catholic so my bible contains some additional books) WGNR is doing a 90 day front to back read, which prompted me to try again. While I have read much of the bible (in daily readings), I've not read it all. The "front to back" method has been effective in allowing me to see "the big picture". Pray for me to complete this personal quest.
God Bless you,
Greenfield, Indiana

 
At 8:30 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh, this was hilarious! Could you hear me laughing in OK? Today was wonderful! Thank you!

 

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