Easter 2017 :: The Aftermath

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Easter 2017 was picture perfect.

The Easter bunny filled our daughters’ baskets, we made it to church, and we enjoyed a beautiful, sunny day spending time together as a family. 

But the weeks following such a nice holiday weekend? A total doozie.

The main reason? Approximately 4,291,487 plastic Easter eggs.

You see, the weekend before Easter, I took my 2-year-old and 8-month-old daughters to three Easter egg hunts in two days.

Three. In two days. Solo, thanks to my husband’s work schedule.

On Saturday, we went to the UAB egg hunt, followed by the event at Bluff Park Methodist Church. I was excited for my toddler, who last year didn’t really grasp the concept of picking up eggs and putting them in her basket. But this year, I knew she was ready. I half-expected her to get in a fight over a golden egg. Oh wait, maybe that was me. Nevermind.

Anyway, hunt #1 resulted in five eggs. So, we headed off to hunt #2, where she filled her basket to the point that it was overflowing and too heavy for her to carry. As we headed to leave, we realized that we had to return the eggs (the church recycles them every year, so the kids can keep the candy inside but need to return the eggs).

I was totally fine with that setup, but trying to explain to my 2 year old that we had to give the eggs back resulted in an epic meltdown. I finally figured out that we could make returning the eggs into a game, where she would throw them, one by one, in the collection box. Since she’s a basketball fan, this worked well for me.

When I was a kid, I was extremely competitive at just about everything. I remember going home with piles and piles of Easter eggs, and I always loved searching for the big ones. One year, I found the coveted golden egg and went home with a prize basket. Good stuff.

For this reason, I felt bad that my little girl was going home with just a few eggs … which, mind you, she was totally fine with, so this was clearly my issue. Either way, we swung by Target on our way home and picked up a few sleeves of yellow and green eggs.

Our purchase totaled about 40 eggs, which, I admit, was a little overboard. But when we got home she happily hid the eggs around the house (and by hid, I mean, set them out visibly, so they really weren’t hidden at all) and then picked them up, one by one, placing them in her basket.

What a great way for her to entertain herself, I thought.

The next day, I took the girls to the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. I won’t go into specifics, but just picture a blonde 2 year old in a dress running to get eggs before the hunt officially started, and a mortified mother debating between running after the toddler or staying with the 8-month-old in the stroller. When I yelled at her to stop, she collapsed onto the ground in a most dramatic fashion, bursting into tears. 

After that fiasco, we somehow ended up at Target buying more plastic eggs, bringing our grand total to roughly four million.

Easter came and went, and these darn eggs are still everywhere. I’ve put them up more times than I can count, but she always finds them. My husband has stepped on a few, which almost resulted in a meltdown of the adult variety. And I think she knows the sheer volume of eggs drives us crazy, because she’ll look at us with a mischeivious grin as she turns her basket upside-down.

Last night, after she dumped them out all over the floor for the 497th time, I snapped. Despite the yelling and screaming and pitiful tears, the eggs were tossed into a plastic bag and hidden on the top shelf of a closet that she can’t open.

And with that, Easter 2017 is officially over.

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Jennifer W
A North Carolina native, Jennifer has called Colorado Springs, CO, Lynchburg, VA, New Orleans, LA, and Charleston, SC home since graduating from Elon University in 2003. She has spent time as a journalist, event planner, and sports information director. Now, the Hoover resident is a full-time sales & marketing professional for an outdoor furniture company and an independent rep for Zyia Active. Of all the hats Jennifer wears, her most important roles are as a wife, mother, daughter, and sister. She has been married to her husband Mike since 2011, and together they have three daughters ages 5, 4 and 2, and a sweet eight-year-old beagle, Cooper.