Easter preparations

We always color Easter eggs on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.  When I was young, Mom always set up the card table in the kitchen, covered it with newspaper, boiled 8-10 eggs and filled custard cups with the vinegary solution into which we dropped the fizzy dye tablets.  I don't remember my oldest brothers coloring eggs since they were 11 and 12 years older than I was, but I do remember my brother, Gary, who was 9 years older, writing on the eggs with a clear, waxy crayon before we dyed them, and sometimes he got creative with double dipping the eggs into the colors to make stripes, etc. Now my kids like to color the eggs and I like to set up the area, ready for them to continue the tradition. This year, we dyed 18 eggs, so I bet we'll have some devilled eggs for Easter dinner tomorrow! (It's fun to color them, but who likes to eat, cold boiled eggs?"Not I," said the bunny!).One of my sons wondered how the tradition of coloring eggs came to be connected to Easter. I think the custom originated as a rite of Spring and fertility and was adopted by the Christians, but I'll have to Google it, if I want to find out for sure. I do  know that the vinegar smell of the dye, reminds me of the vinegar offered to Christ to quench his thirst as he suffered for us on the cross.( I think we add vinegar to set the color, but again, I may be wrong.) I know I'll continue to dye eggs at Easter time long after my youngest leaves home, because it's a lovely ritual, that's part of our family tradition.