COLORING FOR DIGESTION

Coloring eggs remains the one constant Easter tradition in my house that rarely goes by the wayside.  Part of this is because it's a tradition that reminds me of growing up.  The other part is that I love egg salad and deviled eggs. I suppose that's a bit morbid -- decorating something I'm going to be digesting shortly after.

Sometimes I set up the egg decorating station outside, but the weather is rarely compatible.  This year it's windy and a little chilly, and my sister is visiting, so we set everything up on the kitchen table.  I get out the crayons, and the two of us work to create nine dishes of color: blue, green, yellow, red, orange, violet (more red), purple (more blue), lime green, and teal.  Dumb me remembered to check the food coloring, but I forgot to check the white vinegar.  After reconciling that apple cider vinegar and red wine vinegar aren't going to work, I manage to eke out nine teaspoons of the last of the white stuff, and we are good to go.

Halfway through the process I coerce my youngest into joining us, and I field texts from my daughter, the middle child, who is at work and feeling left out.  (I promise -- we will decorate eggs some other time.  That's the beauty of white eggs; they're always around.)  We end up with a nearly perfect dozen colored eggs.  One does have a small glitch in its shell, so my sister decorates that one with a simple saying: "You crack me up."

It's a fun day of coloring.  No one spills dye on clothing, no eggs land on the floor, no crayons break, and clean-up takes practically no time at all.  Of course, stupid me has crushed the egg carton, so we have to pack the eggs into containers, but if that's our worst disaster for the day, we're having a fabulously successful Easter Egg Coloring Experience.