For most people, the Easter egg hunt conjures images of children scrambling to find colored plastic eggs like the ones pictured above, filled with tiny sweets (M&Ms, etc) or prizes. But in my family, things were done a little bit…differently. (If you haven’t figured this out by now, I don’t know where you’ve been.) My grandmother worked at the candy counter of a neighborhood store called the Stratford Town Fair, and got her hands on dozens of candy eggs; these were about half as small as real eggs, seemed to be made of solid sugar, and were old and hard as rocks by the time my cousins, my sister, and I were introduced to them. My grandfather had penciled a little number on each one (rendering them officially inedible) that coordinated with a list he’d make each year of all the hiding places around their house. He was really, really good at hiding them. And these eggs were not very big and not brightly-colored, which made them really, really hard to find.
I don’t remember a single Easter where we managed to find them all on our own. Invariably, my grandfather would cross off all the eggs we did find, and would then walk around the house, consulting his list, stopping here and there and giving us little hints. “You’re getting hot,” he’s say. Or “Cold, cold, cold as ice!” Finding those last few inscrutable eggs was a particular challenge and delight.
Unlike most Easter egg hunts, my family’s did not award prizes to whomever found the most eggs. In fact, I never really thought about the prizelessness of it all, until now. The endeavor of looking for those petrified candy eggs and even managing to find them was exhilarating enough. And that leads me to wonder: do you think most kids today (and their parents) would be satisfied with an Easter egg hunt without a material reward?
Kara LaReau 
This reminds me of our egg hunts for dyed eggs. Sometimes Mom would hide them so well we wouldn’t find them until there was a tell-tale odor. Or she’d forget how many she’d hidden. Your grandfather’s system was much better!
Whoa, that stinks. Literally and figuratively.
We used to hunt for our chocolate bunnies, well for me it was a vanilla bunny because some brilliant person told my grandmother chocolate bothered my asthma, all around my grandmother’s 3 family house. It took hours and was a blast…I think we would have done it even without the bunny in the end.
I do love the Stratford Town Fair reference…so remember going to that crazy place.
I hope you at least LIKED white chocolate, Mike!
The Stratford Town Fair was the craziest place EVER. I have more than a few memories of it, since my grandma worked there.
It wasn’t even white chocolate (which I don’t love but can tolerate) but just vanilla which I can’t stand 🙂
I’ve never ever checked into on the internet shoe establishments,
but if it’s complimentary delivery, I suppose I’ll start trying …
Yet over night delivery would’ve been nice, especially given that I anticipate having to kiss a great deal of frogs just before discovering the right shoes.
I’ve had nothing but wonderful customer service from both Zappos and Endless.
Highlights for this Miami, Fla Videographer include: Editing Proficiency,
Freelance Videographer, Documentary Design Videography, Unique
Event Videography, HD Video Capturing, Modifying & Manufacturing,
Wedding Videography, Personal Past Bios, Efficiency & Great Arts Videography, Corporate Training
Videos, Web Video Manufacturing & Streaming, Web, Wire & TELEVISION Commercials, Photography Solutions,
Sporting Occasion Videography, Composing & Making Know-how, Attributes, Extreme Sports Videography, Steadicam Equipment as well as Branding.