Celebrating Easter - Swiss style

We spent every Easter in Nyon with my mom-in-law. We call her Mémé. In the morning when we got up, having had a good look at Mémé's back garden, only then we realised that it snowed last night. Her garden was painted with layer of white powder. It was such a pretty sight. However, Mémé was a bit worried that the snow might in some ways hinder our Easter celebration.

In accordance to Swiss traditional way of celebrating Easter, chocolates were supposed to be hidden in the garden. And children would then go in search for them. It was a thrilling experience for kids. Even Petty admitted that as a young boy, he did enjoy this particular game.



Fortunately when afternoon came, sunshine set in. The never ending snowing had finally come to a halt. The sky now looked as clear as mirror. No more snow, which meant we could go and hide all the chocolates wherever we wanted in the garden!

It took a bit of skill to hide the chocolates. We couldn't just leave them too exposed. On the other hand, we couldn't hide them too well as the kids might find it too hard looking for them.



I found two huge Smarties on top of a plant. I wondered who actually put them there. When Petty saw the chocolates, he couldn't help burst out laughing - "ISN'T THAT A BIT TOO EASY FOR THE KIDS TO LOCATE?!!"



A golden bunny from Lindt & Sprüngli was hidden in the bush. This type of chocolate is Swiss kids' favourite Easter gift.



Mémé was worried that the kids might end up finding nothing. So she left a small basket of colourful Easter candies next to a pile of stones. It was so EXPOSED. Even the blind could manage to find them.

"Isn't it lovely to just leave the eggs like this on the stones?" Mémé said, pointing at the Easter eggs scattered randomly on the stones.



I sprinkled quite a lot of eggs amongst the plants. When the kids were searching high and low for the chocolates, I could hear Mémé speaking at the top of her voice, "Children! Children! beware of my plants! Do not step upon them!......" Oh dear, the warning came a bit too late.



That day, we left Nyon in the late afternoon. As we set off, snow started to fall again.



Out of our car, I could see snow everywhere - it looked just like a black and white postcard. Inside our car, our two kids were soundly asleep. They were not aware of the heavy snow outside. At this very moment, they were probably having a very sweet dream in which they savoured every mouthful of the endless supply of huge Easter eggs .........

I wish you all a very happy Easter too.