Easter: The Rabbit's Den

Toddler Holidays was very excited to see the display and had a blast finding his 12 eggs.

Easter Eve: The Rabbit's Den

Here's what awaits Toddler Holidays upon waking up tomorrow morning:

A dozen plastic eggs with candy inside have been scattered about. Daytime pics to come tomorrow.

Easter Season Has Arrived

Easter schedule:

Sunday, April 13- Palm Sunday

Thursday, April 17- Maundy Thursday

Friday, April 18- Good Friday

Saturday, April 19- Holy Saturday, Set up front porch Easter display after Toddler Holidays goes to bed

Sunday, April 20- Resurrection Sunday, Toddler Holidays Easter egg hunt


Also, Halloween season begins in 6 months! I will unveil this year's yard haunt theme at the end of the month.

First Day of Spring

It may be the first day of Spring, but it's still quite cold here in the Upper Midwest. Easter is only one month away, so here's a rough draft of the upcoming Easter yard display:

I am calling this year's theme 'The Rabbit's Den', and I will build it especially for Toddler Holidays. I plan on setting up a den of branches on the front porch, upon which I will hang a host of plastic Easter eggs and other ornaments. I'll intersperse some Easter-colored lanterns, and probably decorate our red wagon and put a basket in it. I may even add a few Easter lilies to the display as well.

I'll put the display up on Easter Eve so Toddler Holidays awakes to discover that the Easter Bunny has made a special trip to his house overnight.

Grandmother Holidays turns 90

That's a lot of holidays along the way. Last year was her first yard haunt, and this year was her first outdoor Easter display. Lord willing, she'll be present to celebrate 'Spirit Grove II: an enchanted forest', as well as her first outdoor Christmas display, with Baby Holidays. Just think. She's 90 years older than her Great-Grandson Baby Holidays. Pretty cool.

Easter Bunny Cove Recap

Overall, I would deem my first outdoor Easter display a success.  With the area that I was allotted to decorate, I think I maximized the space as far as egg quantity, color distribution, and light coverage were concerned.  I was especially pleased with how well the eggs performed during some strong winds, and I particularly liked the effect of the solar ground lights.

Mother-in-Law Holidays was extremely generous to fund much of the project, as well as to host the inaugural display on her property. Father Holidays and Stepmother Holidays were generous to donate 12 fuzzy eggs as well.

I was excited to do some of the work with Baby Holidays looking on in his car seat. Next year, God willing, he should be walking and maybe even hanging an egg or two.

Of course, there's always room for improvement. For example, I was disappointed in the blue jars at night. While beautiful during the daylight hours, they did not shine enough at night. I think my error was the fact that I spray painted the jars with a satin finish, instead of a gloss finish. This made them more opaque. Lesson learned.  I was also disappointed in my photos, though this was largely due to an old camera.  However, this problem has now been rectified.

Finally, I'm hopeful that Mother-in-Law Holidays will allow me to enlarge my decorating radius next year. If I can spread some of the decorations to the front yard, in addition to the side yard, they will draw a greater number of eyes from two separate streets. This year was a trial run so to speak, and rightfully so. Hopefully, Easter Bunny Cove performed well enough to earn a promotion.

The Big Bang

In the Beginning...

                                                            View from the front

                                                           View from the back

                                                           View from the right side

                                                           View from the left side

All in all, I hung 93 plastic eggs on the arbor this afternoon. Long-suffering Mother-in-Law Holidays was an eyewitness. Mrs. Holidays stayed at home to catch some precious Z's after a long night of false labor contractions.

Tomorrow, I will be putting out some solar-powered ground lights that Mother-in-Law Holidays purchased at Walmart. Grandmother Holidays should be present and ready to supervise. Then, I still have about 90 more eggs to hang around surrounding branches and bushes. When I do that will depend on PWIW Holidays' imminent arrival.

As I was hanging the eggs today and while Mother-in-Law Holidays was hard at work trimming bushes to prepare Easter Bunny Cove, several people drove by, slowed down and smiled. One young mother walking her baby in a stroller suggested that we needed some lights to add to the display. Mother-in-Law Holidays told her "Just come back," then proceeded to go inside and put a cold, wet towel on her forehead (Don't kid yourself, she loves every second of it).

Operation Save Easter

Yesterday, I stopped by Home Goods for a quick visit and noticed that the store had already taken away about 90% of its Easter stash and replaced it with generic Spring products.  How disappointing, especially considering that we still have about two-and-a-half weeks until the big holiday.  Also, in my evening walks, I haven't seen a single outdoor Easter decoration in my neighborhood yet.

Easter (in the fun, holiday sense) is on life support. Fellow Easter bloggers and enthusiasts, it's up to us to save it.