Will the Easter Bunny Visit Your Yard?

When I was a child, Easter meant getting new fancy dresses for church, white shoes that became caked in the mud that melting snows of Michigan left behind, and coloring Easter eggs. There was no such thing as an Easter Bunny. Easter dinner was a huge meal and the colored eggs simply added a little color to the table after they had been a messy craft for us the night before.

While raising my own children, Easter was just a little bit different. The Michigan snows had been traded in for the Texas heat. We still got fancy new Easter dresses, but those colored eggs could now be hidden all over the yard for a full day of entertainment. There was still no such thing as an Easter Bunny. My own children not only knew that we hid the eggs and an Easter Bunny did not leave them behind in the yard, but once all the Easter eggs had been gathered, they would beg us to hide them again, over and over, until we would grow tired of it and turn the chore over to them. They would take turns hiding the Easter eggs and we would all join in the hunt. This hunt would take up the full day, a huge meal was a very low priority, and those Easter eggs were far from anything close to decoration for a table.

Now, I am the grandma. The Easter Bunny is alive and well. The Easter Bunny not only hides his eggs all over my yard, but he is quite prolific at hiding his eggs all over our small town. The little girls still wear their fancy new dresses and the little boys wear their ties as they run through parks, church grounds and neighborhood yards in search of the colored eggs. Understandably, with the Easter Bunny being so prolific, it now takes more than a full day to find all those eggs he leaves all over town. Now it is a full weekend event starting with a hunt at school before the break. Next, will be the park and neighbors on Saturday and topped off with a hunt on the church grounds and Grandma's yard on Sunday.

Last year my oldest granddaughter made a sad discovery. Apparently, the Easter Bunny had stolen the eggs they had so carefully decorated the night before and hidden them all over my yard. She was crushed to learn of the Easter Bunny's ethics.

If the Easter Bunny will be visiting your yard this Easter, I strongly suggest you ask him to leave plastic eggs filled with prizes. Leave the carefully decorated eggs for the table, to insure that your hunt will be a success with no broken hearts left behind.

If you are in an area that weather permits you to move all of the fun outside, I recommend a cookout and picnic. An Easter cookout will allow the grown-ups to enjoy each other and the children at the same time.

Do not be surprised if, after they have collected all the eggs the Easter Bunny has left behind and removed the prizes inside, they decide to play Easter Bunny themselves, and hide the plastic eggs all over again, for a full day of fun.