Happy Easter Traditions

Our family celebrated Easter a bit early so that we could all be together.  We had such fun.  I put eight dozen eggs on to boil so that they'd be ready for the dye when the kids arrived.  

Will and Stacey came in with about six dozen, so in the end we boiled and dyed about 14 dozen eggs.  That sounds insane, but this is central Louisiana where egg knocking is a sport and real eggs are used for everything from egg hunts to other egg games.

If you haven't had the pleasure of egg knocking, you should give it a try.  Simply boil and dye tons of eggs, then on Easter Sunday pile the kids and eggs in the car and go visiting.  Each person gets an egg and pairs with someone else.  One person holds the egg pointed end up, the second person taps his egg's pointed end on it.  The one to break loses.  The ones that don't break go to round two.   Continue until there's only one unbroken egg left.  That's the winner. 
 


I have no idea where or how egg knocking began, but I can remember knocking eggs with my grandparents when I was very young.  Why the grandparents stand out in my memory so well when there were surely many more family members present?  That's because if Ma-ma's egg broke, she knocked it on the winners' forehead.   It was a huge joke and only she did it, probably because it's not part of the game.  It definitely helped to seal the memory for me, though. 

The little ones had an Easter egg hunt and although the older grandchildren are too cool to hunt the eggs, they are not so cool that they can't help the 2-3 year olds.  Since we spent much of Friday getting ready for the bombardment, the yard looks pretty good.  However, there are no grass clumps to hide eggs in, so the big kids had to get rather ingenious about it. 

One of the best ways to spend the holidays is to just sit around and visit, and the gorgeous weather was exactly perfect for that.  Fix a glass of soda or tea, or grab a piece of chocolate from an Easter basket, then wander out to the patio and pull up a seat.  You are guaranteed to be laughing or defending yourself in two minutes.  It helps if almost everyone went fishing in the last day or two, or if someone got a speeding ticket, or there's some big news that
needs to be told, but none of those are necessary in this family.

If things get dull--how could they?--have an egg toss or convince the big kids to roll eggs on the ground, or grab some spoons and the adults will laugh while trying to relay race (guys vs girls adds to the laughter, but competing by married couples can get interesting, too).  A playhouse, a houla-hoop, a new tea set are just part of the family fun factor.

My biggest hope is that our grandchildren will remember Easter gatherings at Grandmay and Poppa's house with fond memories and will want to continue the traditions that Richard and I fondly remember from our childhood with grandparents who are now gone. 

 

Happy Easter, everyone.  I hope to see you in Easter Sunday services this morning to give glory and praise for the many blessings we get to share with family and friends today.

Mary