Tips and Butts and other stuff we do on Easter.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Good morning!

I love Easter time. As a devout Christian, Lent is six weeks of busy busy church stuff. (We Lutherans, we don't miss a church season without pot lucks every week!) So by the time Holy Week rolls about, I have a Homer Simpson like butt print on my favorite pew. (And yes, I'm old enough now to have a favorite pew.)

But Easter is so great for so many reasons! My family made this a gift giving holiday when the kids were little. Instead of the Fluffy Easter Bunny Peter Cottontail, we turned the story on its over long ear. (The Boy's name is Peter, and he loathed Peter Cottontail.) We have the Naughty Easter Rodent.

The NER is a critter that comes into our house Saturday night before Easter and hides all the beautiful colored eggs we've stashed in the fridge for our annual "tips and butts" tournament. (More on that later.) The children get notes and baskets with small gifts (a movie, a CD, maybe a pair of shoes) to make up for the hassle of having to find the eggs.

Once we're home from Church, the kids get to find the eggs, THEN open their gifts and eat candy. As the kids get older, it's less candy, and last year we dispensed with hiding the eggs since we now have to have Easter dinner at my mother's house and do an egg hunt there. Besides, the Girl is 13 and the boy is 16. Do they really want to be looking for eggs? Really?

I really love EAster because of the "tips and butts" tournament. This game, I believe, originated on my dad's side of the family, but we've been playing it so long I couldn't say for certain. You always have that big plate of colored eggs. If you have small children, you have a MASSIVE plate of eggs no one will eat. (And really, how much egg salad can you stomach?) But my father's family played this game so that at least the eggs got peeled quickly.

The game is simple. Eggs have a narrow end (tip) and a wider end (butt). Two people pick an egg. Player one hits the butt of player two's egg with his tip. One end gets broken. The players flip and play again. If one egg has two broken ends, that egg is out. If they each have one broken end, they can move on to other players, calling out, "I have a tip!' or "I have a butt!" Last egg to have an unbroken end is the champion. You break the egg, you must peel it. Oh, and the tip is always on top, the hittER. The butt is always the hittEE.

Even the smallest child in my family loves this game, and it's a great way to end an Easter Dinner!

So this Sunday, if you're faced with a plate of colored eggs you just can't face by yourself, start up a rousing game of Tips and Butts. Yes, your relatives will look at you oddly. (See, Easter isn't one of those big drinking holidays.) But push through it. You'll thank me!

Oh, and have you ordered your copy of Dream in Color yet? Come on! A belated Easter Basket isn't complete without a happy little romantic comedy! :)

Happy Easter, or spring, or whatever! :)