Knee Deep in Easter Eggs

My grandmother taught me how to dye
Easter eggs with onion skins. 

With the advent of social sharing sites such as Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, there are too many different ways to serve up Easter eggs. I used to buy one extra dozen eggs for the holiday. That dozen was used to propagate the egg dying tradition we thrust upon our children at a very early age. We bought into the commercialism and purchased egg-dying kits with stickers and shrink wrap. Yesterday, I purchased three dozen eggs and will probably run out before Easter dinner is served. I'm now convinced chickens hired social media marketing experts to drive up egg sales. 

To create an Easter egg loaf, you have to
dye raw eggs in the fridge and hope
your boys don't smash them with
a half-full pizza delivery box.

With my three dozen, I planned on making some Easter egg loaves for friends. The loaves require dyed raw eggs. The eggs get cooked in the oven while the bread bakes. My plan was to dye some eggs for the bread and then dye another half dozen for the benefit of the Easter bunny. That would leave some for baking and breakfasts. My boys are too old to sit around the table and dye eggs--or so I assumed. 

Egg dying kits--a tradition
my young adult children
have not quite outgrown.

My 20-year-old texted me a few hours after I bought the eggs. He wanted to know; when are we dying eggs this year? I explained that I planned to do it while they were enjoying their all-day fishing excursion. He explained he was out buying egg-dying supplies, and; should he pick up eggs? I told him about my egg purchase. He was thrilled. As for me, his inquiry meant I needed to boil more than half a dozen eggs. He came home with not one, but two egg-dying kits. Evidently he was expecting the family egg dying tradition to be resurrected this year, despite our boys' ages and my lack of grandchildren.

Success with a Pinterest idea means
new traditions and more dyed eggs.

In addition to dying raw and hard boiled eggs, I set a precedence last year I have now come to regret. Rather than simply make plain deviled eggs, I mastered Easter deviled eggs. My family absolutely loved the Pinterest-worthy, colorful, tasty eggs. To make Easter deviled eggs, one must peel the boiled eggs and then dye them. 

To be perfectly honest, all this dying seems like overkill now that we get all our eggs from friends who raise free-range, vegetarian-fed chickens. The eggs naturally come in a variety of pretty colors. But thanks to our creativity and tradition over the years, as well as all the great ideas online, my family has come to expect brightly colored eggs in all aspects of our Easter celebrations. 

Mother Nature really does a great
job coloring eggs already.

Well done, chickens. Your social media marketing worked. I will probably have to buy another dozen. And that's assuming no one will want eggs for breakfast. 

Micki Bare, mother of three, wife, daughter & writer is the author of Thurston T. Turtle children's books. 

Email: mickibare (at) gmail.com

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