“Mom! Look!” My boy runs down the hill toward the creek and onto the muddy banks snakes-be-damned.

“What?” The other two yell as they drop their toys and run to the water. It is November 3rd in a small town in Georgia and little Danny is beaming as he holds up a large pink plastic Easter egg. He opens it up and finds a quarter and shoves it in his pocket.

“There could still be more of them out here,” he announces, “You never know!” All three start rooting around the thick blanket of fallen leaves that cover the woodsy hill leading to our creek.

Our holiday traditions have always been fun and the Easter tradition was one that could last for years because all the Easter Eggs were rarely found on Easter Sunday. Our forested back yard was a great place for clever Mom to hide those eggs.

Holidays like Easter were always an expensive proposition because I would only buy my children sugarless candies and treats.  I’m not talking about candy made with aspartame or any other harmful chemical sweeteners; I’m talking about candy made with rice syrup or barely malt or maybe honey and maple syrup. Getting any kind of volume worthy of an overflowing Easter basket was very pricey.

So I thought, why not give them some money instead and then they can also have the fun of buying their treats too! This was less expensive and much more fun! So off they would go with their empty Easter baskets combing through our backyard woods looking for the eggs. Some were much easier to find than others.

And some probably remain to be found!