Here comes Peter Cottontail. Hoppin’ down the bunny trail….

I am a huge sucker for family traditions. They are like my favorite thing in the world. There is something so comforting about the little things we do each year to celebrate holidays. I blame this on my grandpa. He was also a sucker for a good tradition.

Case in point – coloring Easter eggs.

These are the very mugs my grandpa used to use with us when we were kids. I found these when Mike was ripping out the old shelves in the basement. As soon as I saw these chipped and cracked old mugs I started crying. Mike looked at me like I was nuts. Like, “What the hell is wrong with this girl crying over old mugs?”

Then I explained that they were the mugs we always used to color Easter eggs and he said, “Well we better keep them then!” So we did. And tonight we colored Easter eggs.

I know there are lots of natural ways to color eggs. Everything from beets to onion skins to grape juice. But for me, nothin’ says Easter like a 99 cent Paas egg dying kit. That is what grandpa always used.

While Mike and his dad worked on installing the new toilet upstairs I prepped the egg dying station.

I had boiled a dozen eggs the night before. Two were used for the killer salade niçoise sandwiches we had for dinner that night and the other ten went into the fridge for dying.

Mike went fancy with a two-tone.

And of course we used the little white pencil to write hidden messages!

It was really fun standing over the mugs and using the little wire holders to turn the eggs so they dyed evenly. And it was fun to finally take them out of the dye and oooh and awww over the vibrant colors.

The end result of our Easter creativity.

Thanks grandpa.

Oh, and don’t forget we’re back at the Haymaker Farmers’ Market this Saturday from 10am-1pm at the United Methodist Church. I’ll have jams and spreads including several jars from the batch of White Peach Straight Up I made earlier this week. And I’ll also have buttermilk biscuits and loads of eggs!

If you’re looking for some real Easter egg dying fun check out our little bantam eggs! I’ll have 3 or 4 dozen of that size.

Look at these little guys. So cute!

(brown egg shown for comparison)