Some of my earliest childhood memories involve hunting eggs around Easter time. This tradition is long standing. It began with my cousin, Julie, and I and continued as Andrew and Laura were added to the family. We four cousins had a lot of fun over the years finding the eggs that our dads cleverly hid in the backyard. And just as we began to reach the age when we might have started to lose interest, my cousin Todd was born. Everyone felt badly for Todd since he was a late birth and most likely would miss out on so many memories that the rest of us had growing up together--and so the Easter egg collecting continued. I ran around the yard looking for eggs in high school...and college, too. By then, the group would change from year to year. College friends who lived far away were invited home for Easter and would join in the fun. Boyfriends and girlfriends changed over the years and would be included in if they were lucky enough to be dating one of us during the Easter season. Jeff and Chris even hunted eggs the Easter before Julie's and my weddings. It was truly a Rhoades family tradition and we had found brave men who were willing to put aside their mature ways and compete to find the most eggs--even if it meant pushing 9 year old Todd out of the way.
But then, Julie and I were both married. Each of us began splitting holidays between our new families and couldn't always make the Easter egg hunt. Todd was growing older and didn't care as much about finding plastic eggs filled with candy and pennies. Sadly, it seemed that a long standing tradition had seen its better day and was now a thing of the past.
Not so! Soon, there after, new children were born into the family and quickly they were hunting eggs as their forefathers had. Today we bear testament to this tradition as it was continued on for another year. Grace, Rylan, Cassidy and Joost all hunted eggs. They carried the egg hunter's torch valiantly, and will be glad to share it with any other cousins that may be born in future years. It was a cold day for a hunt (about 45 degrees), but all eggs were found--including an egg that had NOT been found several years ago. No one wanted to look inside that one. There was plenty of bounty in the rest of the eggs, and the kids ran circles around Aunt Dee's house to prove that sugar is the gift that keeps giving.
Some of my earliest childhood memories involve hunting eggs around Easter time. This tradition is long standing. It began with my cousin, Julie, and I and continued as Andrew and Laura were added to the family. We four cousins had a lot of fun over the years finding the eggs that our dads cleverly hid in the backyard. And just as we began to reach the age when we might have started to lose interest, my cousin Todd was born. Everyone felt badly for Todd since he was a late birth and most likely would miss out on so many memories that the rest of us had growing up together--and so the Easter egg collecting continued. I ran around the yard looking for eggs in high school...and college, too. By then, the group would change from year to year. College friends who lived far away were invited home for Easter and would join in the fun. Boyfriends and girlfriends changed over the years and would be included in if they were lucky enough to be dating one of us during the Easter season. Jeff and Chris even hunted eggs the Easter before Julie's and my weddings. It was truly a Rhoades family tradition and we had found brave men who were willing to put aside their mature ways and compete to find the most eggs--even if it meant pushing 9 year old Todd out of the way.
But then, Julie and I were both married. Each of us began splitting holidays between our new families and couldn't always make the Easter egg hunt. Todd was growing older and didn't care as much about finding plastic eggs filled with candy and pennies. Sadly, it seemed that a long standing tradition had seen its better day and was now a thing of the past.
Not so! Soon, there after, new children were born into the family and quickly they were hunting eggs as their forefathers had. Today we bear testament to this tradition as it was continued on for another year. Grace, Rylan, Cassidy and Joost all hunted eggs. They carried the egg hunter's torch valiantly, and will be glad to share it with any other cousins that may be born in future years. It was a cold day for a hunt (about 45 degrees), but all eggs were found--including an egg that had NOT been found several years ago. No one wanted to look inside that one. There was plenty of bounty in the rest of the eggs, and the kids ran circles around Aunt Dee's house to prove that sugar is the gift that keeps giving.
1 comment:
Wow! Joost is really on a mission!! Even if Gracie doesn't get as many eggs, at least she looks cute!!
Tesha
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