hardboiled Easter eggs are so blah

I never knew what I was missing until I decided to stay home (in Rio Grande City) for Easter instead of visiting Lee or my family during my first year as out of college. I was blessed with wonderful friends, Lori and Xavi, who invited me to join their family for the festivities.

I helped them hide the eggs, not noticing that they were lighter than eggs I had hidden in the past.

I made sure the kids had bags with which to collect their eggs.

I watched them and helped them as the egg collecting fun began.

And I was completely befuddled when Lori and Xavi and Xavi's siblings started telling me to collect some eggs. I couldn't understand why. The egg hunt is for kids. But, because they were being so hospitable, I humored them, convinced that they were crazy.

And then, as I placed an egg in my bag, I saw confetti out of the corner of my eye. What was *that*? I wondered.

Soon I would find out. These were not just any eggs. They were cascarones, hollowed out eggshells that were dyed, decorated, and filled with confetti, with tissue paper glued over the hole. As you collect eggs, you also smash them on each other's heads. Confetti and colored eggshell fill yards and neighborhoods and streets and your hair for at least a week.

This year we decided to postpone our trek to south Texas until the fall, which meant we would not find stand after stand of cascarones on the side of the road. In preparation for this, I began cracking eggs at the very top and saving the cleaned shells to make my own.

And we were able to share this wonderful tradition with two families who we love dearly.