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04/16/2006: A Very X-E Easter, 2006.

Happy Easter to all! Hope it’s a good one, if you celebrate it. If you don’t, you’re only really missing having to reach for the 2-liter Pepsi over a gigantic lamb body part. We’re spending this Easter with the woman’s family, which secretly depresses me, but not to the point where I’d once again use the excuse of this probably being some sick old person in my family’s last Easter and thus getting a pass to stick with what I know. Whatever, Sopranos is on tonight.

What you see above is the official giant inflatable Marshmallow Peep, which I’ve now left plugged in outside of my parents’ house as a sort of reminder to all my siblings who will be visiting there today that I am much cooler than any of them could ever hope to be. With the Peeps People now realizing the cultural phenomenon they’ve created, it’s opened the floodgates for more Peeps Action than anyone would’ve ever predicted — and I think that a 3′ inflatable yellow chick Peep just might lead the parade of new products. Bought this beauty for just fifteen bucks at Party City, and to be honest, I would’ve paid twice as much because, Jesus Holy Mary, INFLATABLE GIANT PEEPS! At fifteen bucks, I only expected the barest of bones, but was happy to learn that the official Peeps seal of quality extends not only to their many edible products, but all of the toys, doodads and INFLATABLE GIANT PEEPS of Peepsdom.

Thing comes with a plug that keeps your I.F.P. perpetually bursting with air, and it’s the kind of decoration that’ll make even the lousiest Kraut at your party flash bright teeth.

Between the Peeps, the fact that even Mounds and Almond Joy have created Easter versions of their chocolate bars and my unending obsession with split-apart plastic eggs, I think I’m going to toss aside any reservations I had about the holiday and spend more time writing about it next year. When I started the site, there wasn’t a terrible amount of truly interesting Easter candy — now it’s right up there with Christmas and Halloween, if not even more so. Somebody’s been paid off.

Course, there’s one tradition I’d never skip out on — the coloring of the Easter eggs. Last night was spent making eggs pretty with two of my visiting nephews, and we were charged with making eggs for every child in the family who is going to be at my parents’ party this afternoon. I’m kind of glad I won’t be there, because we made some seriously sick, ugly and vile Easter eggs. Almost every egg is dark and monstrous, abstract, cracked and appearing like we-the-artists had channeled Edvard Munch. I can’t say I’m proud of the fact that my four-year-old niece is going to receive an Easter egg based on Freddy Krueger this afternoon, but Will Smith don’t need to Fred eggs to Easter them, so fuck him, and fuck you too.

I did make a few prettier eggs…

Found a few packages of “Nerds Shrinkles” several months back, and they’ve really been the only reason I’ve looked forward to Easter since. Based on the candy brand’s big-nosed mascot creatures, the kits provide an easy method of winning every Easter egg art competition in the country with as little fuss as possible. Each kit comes with an assortment of plastic egg slipcovers that perform very Shrinky Dink-esque magic tricks when placed in boiling water.

The package suggests letting them sit in the boiling water for three seconds, but they shrink down and glue themselves to eggs the second they hit the hot steam. It’s a lot of fun, but I’m wondering how fruitful this is since most kids aren’t allowed to fuck around with pots full of boiling water. At least, that’s what Bugs Bunny used to say in that old commercial.

End result: Mega awesome Nerds eggs.

With one experiment marked as a success, I went after another. The backs of each Nerds Shrinkles package included a cutout coupon for a forty-cent discount on any regular sized box of Nerds candy. The coupons are from 1986, but they’re clearly marked with that heavenly “no expiration date” tag. So, while at the grocery store picking up all the things we promised our families we’d bring today, I gave it a shot, and…it worked! Easter really is a time of miracles, or time for miracles, whichever sounds righter and corrector.

I hope your Easter is merry. Discuss your own celebrations in the comments.


Posted by Matt. E-mail me!

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Discussion Thread: 112 comments

FIRST!!!!!!!

I work at CVS,and someone gave me a "no expiration" coupon from 1982. It was 20 cents of a box of Kleenex, and unlike your coupon, it was cut from the Sunday paper,and VERY obviously 1982, i.e. graphics, logos etc. The back was an ad for household cleaners, such as "Mr.Muscle" oven cleaner. The coupon worked, so it was an Easter miracle. You have no idea how much I wanted to keep and scan the coupon, but I dreaded explaining it to my superiors, so I let it slip away.

Ghosted by Kid Nicky @ 04/16/2006 12:34 PM EDT


Awesome. I, too, work at a CVS, but I haven’t come across magically immortal Easter coupons.

Happy Easter everyone!

Ghosted by ant @ 04/16/2006 12:40 PM EDT


I ate a hard boiled egg this morning for the first time in years. Not exactly as I remember them and hopefully I’ll remember this over the days they tasted good for next easter.

Ghosted by dohopoki @ 04/16/2006 12:43 PM EDT


I’m sick. :( Every Easter I get little gifts, and plenty of candy, but this year I got all of the new Gi Joe comic books from Devils Due publishing.:) But still, I’m sick. :(

Ghosted by Darth Poop @ 04/16/2006 1:01 PM EDT


I agree that Easter is a lot more pumped this year. It feels a lot more like Christmas. I’d say more but my Grandma just got here and my mom is SCREAMING about it.

Ghosted by Eddie Lightning Frog @ 04/16/2006 1:03 PM EDT


I’m happy because my mom finally got the hint that I hate ham and made me a turkey for Easter. The Easter bunny came through again this year, and I got a nice basket full of goodies. There were a lot of loose M&Ms and Cabury mini eggs which I have since sealed in my Peeps candy containers.

So who else is packing pastel egg salad sandwiches for lunch tomorrow?

Ghosted by Mystie @ 04/16/2006 1:17 PM EDT


I’m going to some friends’ for Easter Dinner in a couple of hours. They are, of all things, barbequeing (?sp?) a ham. It sounds really weird, but I’m trying to keep an open mind.

I didn’t go to church today, and I’m feeling kind of guilty about it. Still, I haven’t really gone to church regularly in a long time, so I would have felt like a hypocrite. Catch-22, and it sucks.

On the plus side, I finished the Slave I and Arc-170 Lego kits. They look pretty cool.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 04/16/2006 1:43 PM EDT


Sorry for the double post, but I think this is kind of funny. I live in a four-plex, and I think my neighbors all go to church. It is Idaho after all, and the heart of Mormon country.

I just went to turn on some music. My computer is hooked up to my living room entertainment center, so I can REALLY put out some noise with all my digital music if I so choose. My computer is on shuffle, and I forgot that the system was cranked from yesterday afternoon when I watched a movie. Pantera’s "Use My Third Arm" was the first song that came on, and it was BLASTING out. I couldn’t find my universal remote right away, and for some reason my computer froze except for the audio output. So basically I blasted out almost an entire hard-core metal song on Easter Sunday at 11:45. I finally found the remote, but I should have just walked over to my stereo. Anyway, I’m pretty sure my neighbors probably think I worship the devil.

I can’t wait to get a house. I hate having to be courteous to my neighbors. If I want to vacuum at 11:30 at night or listen to heavy metal at high volume, I shouldn’t have to worry about whether it will annoy the neighbors.

Ghosted by spaz307 @ 04/16/2006 1:52 PM EDT


I’m sure you can secretly dread something you announce on a widely-read Website.

Also, that bright pink egg looks like the Halloween shrunken head.

What is with Easter this year? Since when does the Easter Bunny give out Death Cab for Cutie CDs? But if that wasn’t surprising enough, the old basket also contained some kind of smelly toy. My specific toy was named Monster Mouth, but I can’t remember what the brand was and I’m not going to check because the package reeks in a big way. I’m going to have this smelly toy package on my floor for the rest of my life. The thing has a stink-lasting rating of 13 or something. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I think it means the stank will never leave my house. Apparently, if you squeeze it, it breathes pure stench into the air, but I’d say it’s doing quite fine without any assistance. It was alright when it was securely locked away in its little plastic chamber, but the second I tore him out, I heard Taps play in my nose. They included a plastic container for him to hide inside, but it’s definitely not strong enough.

Ghosted by Tougi @ 04/16/2006 2:05 PM EDT


It’s not Easter here in Romania for another week (Orthodox church) but I just wanted to say that egg on the left looks just like it had brain surgery. Best Easter egg I’ve ever seen!

Pax

Ghosted by Soj @ 04/16/2006 2:33 PM EDT


We typically wake up and do a hunt for our Easter baskets (yes, I am an adult…shu’ up).

Then church, family dinner (always ham), and a visit to the graves of my deceased grandparents. Also, in a relatively new tradition, work. Damnit.

Ghosted by mtrox @ 04/16/2006 2:45 PM EDT


We’re not really Easter people per say, although my mom is making Easter dinner: Conrish game hens (never had them before), mashed potatoes, biscuits, some veggie (which is ignored), and PEANUT BUTTER PIE. :)

Did anyone see Easter Unwrapped on Food Network? They had a guy who makes sculptures like the flag with Peeps. The company even gives him FREE PEEPS when he needs him.

Ghosted by JLAJRC @ 04/16/2006 3:09 PM EDT


Just two things to say:
the eggs Matt, they’re beautiful, man.
The other thing is this, there are protein bars in my easter basket this morning. In the words of Cliff Claven, "What’s up with that?"

Ghosted by inkmage @ 04/16/2006 3:26 PM EDT


So far my celebration has consisted of praying that the rental and sib units will go visit relatives so I can watch Sopranos in peace for once. Every week I have to put up with the most inane running commentary…Speaking of inane commentary, the current Best Week Ever did a bit on Sopranos that was utterly lame, but still somewhat amusing because I never get tired of people talking about Paulie Walnuts and Bobby B. as if they were as real as you or me.
Both sets of eggs are cute, and I like that you’ve left your presence at your family celebration in giant Peep form.
Happy Easter everyone!

Ghosted by squee4242 @ 04/16/2006 3:28 PM EDT


The picture of your shopping cart made me hungry for chocolate chip macaroons.

Ghosted by Jeff S @ 04/16/2006 5:41 PM EDT


That giant Peeps thing scares me. Is that your security precaution? That would scare me straight.

Nerds eggs, eh? I call the purple one. Those were always the best ones.

And here’s a funny story, I was in the library years ago (2002) going through the used books for sale, and on the top of the case, there was a coupon for Burger from 1986. And one of them was used allready. I still have it. Its funny as hell. I wonder if I should use it. I have it scanned on the computer and use it as my background.

Best Easter Candy though? Reeses Eggs! You’d be a fool to pass them up. A FOOL!!!

Ghosted by Rixliss @ 04/16/2006 6:12 PM EDT


Can I (never mind, I’ll do it anyway :) ) usurp the board for a moment and ask everyone a fun question:

What is the best Easter egg hiding place you’ve encountered?

Easter egg hunts were so great for exploring those unappreciated corners of the house, and finding them decorated with a pretty-colored egg. My most memorable find was an egg in the cockpit of my Lego Aquazone submarine. It was almost a perfect fit…

Ghosted by Venison @ 04/16/2006 6:36 PM EDT


I’ll gladly answer that.

A pond.

My family always has a easter egg hunt for the kids and adults, and of course the Golden Egg is the main objective. You hold the Golden Egg for a year. My relatives have a pond in their back yard and a couple of people didn’t want to get their hands dirty. Of course I dug right in and I think I got bit by something.

My prize? A stuffed chick with a bow. Worth every second!

Ghosted by Rixliss @ 04/16/2006 6:46 PM EDT


i have one of those giant peeps. They are They are silly and coo

Ghosted by SOPHISTICATED MAMA @ 04/16/2006 7:18 PM EDT


Didn’t do much for easter. Went to church, had easter dinner with family, then opened up our baskets. I got Reeses Eggs, a lollipop with a zipper (They are called Zyppers! How kooky is that?), M+Ms, jelly beans, and a $15 iTunes Gift Card. Yay easter.

Ghosted by Reid @ 04/16/2006 7:25 PM EDT


Tomato carrot?

Ghosted by Evin @ 04/16/2006 7:31 PM EDT


I would have to say that the best hiding place I’ve encountered is the tall grass under the faucet next to the dog’s watering pan. I say "best" because none of us kids found it, and the adults didn’t find it after the hunt, and basically nobody found it until it had been stinking up the entire yard for a week. And that’s the year we stopped hiding hard-boiled eggs.

Ghosted by Jedoc @ 04/16/2006 8:01 PM EDT


Oh, I totally decorated easter eggs with Shrinkles about 20 years ago. Made with Mickey Mouse Shrinkles and love, everyone in my family got one. My grandmother thought they were beautiful and took hers home and put it on a little egg stand on her bedroom nightstand.

Last summer Grandma went in the nursing home and I had the nasty job of cleaning out her house before we sold it. About the only moment of humor was coming across that damn Shrinkle Egg still sitting in its place of honor. Yes, the thought of 20-year-old easter eggs is disgusting, but somehow my eight-year-old Shrinkle making self was proud all over again.

Ghosted by Carri @ 04/16/2006 8:15 PM EDT


Once I was hiding Easter eggs for my brother to hunt for, and I hid one in the bottom of his Easter basket under all the grass. lol, he never thought to look there and was SO MAD because he couldn’t find the last egg.

Ghosted by LuLu @ 04/16/2006 8:16 PM EDT


I’m alone in Boston while my family is in upstate New York, so today is just another day of not getting dressed and finishing up the last disc of Ducktales. We used to have massive egg hunts outside at my house with everyone. It was great and they’d stick money in the eggs. Sometimes five bucks! Bah! stupid growing up. Like I said yesterday, Kingdom Hearts II is waiting for me when I get home. go Jesus!

Ghosted by Mattman @ 04/16/2006 8:33 PM EDT


First of all, Happy Easter to all who celebrate it; for everyone else, I hope you at least got to enjoy spring.

Other than somehow getting a huge headache half-way through the day, I had an enjoyable Easter, too. I went over to my uncle’s. He, my youngest sister, and my biological father visted our older cousin and her husband, baby daughter, and two sons. The boys were fun. We got to watch them hunt candy-filled plastic eggs in the backyard while everyone cooed over the baby in the huge, frilly pink dress who prefered her plastic keys to the company. After we came back, the four of us had turkey breast, peas and corn, broiled potatoes and carrots, and home-made cole slaw and stuffing. Not a traditional Easter dinner by any means, but quite tasty. We had the cookies I baked last night as an Easter surprise (and a thank you for the birthday dinner at Applebees) for dessert.

In between the visit and the meal, my sister and I dyed eggs (not much better than Matt and his nephews). Later, we played "Mario Kart" and the first "Mario Party" on her Nintendo 64 and watched a few episodes of the original Japanese "Sailor Moon" she got off some friend or the other; she’s a HUGE anime fan.

I’m glad to see Matt getting into Easter. I’ve always liked Easter, maybe because it’s close to my birthday.

Ghosted by starwenn @ 04/16/2006 8:52 PM EDT


Those are the best Easter eggs ever.

And, being non-religious, and using Easter solely as a food holiday, I have dubbed Easter "Green eggs and ham day". It shouldn’t be too hard to figure out why.

Ghosted by jazzy @ 04/16/2006 9:15 PM EDT


My immediate fam doesn’t speak to a lot of the extended fam, but we see some of mom’s side on holidays more out of tradition and guilt than anything. This year we just decided we didn’t feel like going, so yay I got to stay home and hang out with my cat all day eating candy and napping. I’ve been writing about Peeps for 3 weeks now, so I’ve been crashing all day. I don’t have any Easter specials so I’m watching Follow That Bird instead.

Ghosted by Mystie @ 04/16/2006 9:26 PM EDT


Happy Easter to all!
Spent the day with the wife’s family. E.Claire did a pretty good job picking up the eggs and putting them in her basket (they weren’t hidden but she is only 15 months old). Easter Bunny brought her some good stuff including a PEEPS stuffed bunny thing. 3 dollars at TARGET. How could I say no?

Easter memories-Found the prize egg Kindegarten through 2nd grade.
Once painted eggs camoflagued for an Easter party (?) at my house when I was in the 4th grade. I won.

Ghosted by The Manimal @ 04/16/2006 10:02 PM EDT


I had a good Easter, probably the best holiday I have had in awhile truthfully. I went crazy putting stuff together for my daughters Easter basket (who is 15mo old btw). Unfortunately she likes the pink "medium size" beanie bunny Peep that my husband got for me more than anything I bought for her. Figures! Her grandmother had a big dinner of some Easter sausage thing and other rich stuff I couldnt eat so I just watched. LOL We watched Narnia and I took her over to her grandfathers house all dressed up. I colored a Peeps coloring book page while my daughter "helped" too. We didnt do the egg hunt thing this year…next year we will though. Trying to move in the middle of a holiday kinda puts a damper on some things.

peeps are awesome.

Ghosted by Kittycatgirl @ 04/16/2006 11:00 PM EDT


I didn’t know Doc Hinkle made the shrink things too. I thought he only made the egg-paint.

starwenn: That’s a great way to spend Easter. Sailor Moon ROCKS.

Anyway, my Easter is more of a "Family Fun Day" than a religious holiday since I’m Buddhist.

It started with a Green eggs and Ham breakfast. Then, I found the hidden Easter-Basket my Mother made for me.

Then, I took a walk and it was a BEAUTIFUL day outside. With all the tulips and sunshine, it really looked like Easter. (I usually don’t leave the house on holidays).

Then we had a Turkey Dinner and watched movies based on cartoons the rest of the night.(Spongebob, Fat Albert, Scooby Doo).

Interesting parralel that folks here might appreciate is that the first TMNT toy I ever got was a Michelangelo figure that was a prize at an Easter egg hunt. And, the first TMNT toy from the NEW line was a Mike fig in my Easter basket.

Ghosted by Tetsu Deinonychus @ 04/17/2006 12:45 PM EDT


Woke up at 3. Dinner was at 1 at my parents’ house. Got there by 3:30. Ate cold dinner in front of the TV and continued watching TV until 8. Best Easter I can remember.

Ghosted by JRH @ 04/17/2006 12:52 PM EDT


Celebratin’ 284 years since the discovery of Easter Island. Oh yeah.

Ghosted by Tutsuro @ 04/17/2006 1:19 AM EDT


Big family get-together, ham and rolls for dinner, celebrated two birthdays, and the Sunday sermon was done in the format of Howie Mandel’s "Deal or No Deal." It was certainly different.

Ghosted by Mars @ 04/17/2006 1:38 AM EDT


to celebrate Easter I slept most of the day and then woke up to a plate of coke

Ghosted by doc bong @ 04/17/2006 1:53 AM EDT


oh and those are the illest easter eggs i’ve ever seen dude!

Ghosted by doc bong @ 04/17/2006 1:58 AM EDT


Inkmage: I’m glad I’m not the only one who uses that wonderful Cliff Claven complete with credit!

Ghosted by rockasoo @ 04/17/2006 5:08 AM EDT


Cliff Claven quote…

sorry.

Ghosted by rockasoo @ 04/17/2006 5:09 AM EDT


The day after Easter…you know what that means? SALES ON PEEPS!

Ghosted by mtrox @ 04/17/2006 7:20 AM EDT


I got home late last night after six hours on the road, and basically crashed out without turning on any lights. When I finally got up this morning, I went into the kitchen to make coffee…and to discover The Horror.

One of my dear good friends bought me three packages of Peeps for Easter, since the influence of you people has me mentioning them constantly. Since I know that bringing my own Peeps within four hundred miles of my ravenous cousins would be a disaster, I left them on my kitchen counter over the weekend. This morning, I discovered that all four boxes in all three packages of marshmallowy goodness were swarming with ants.

Dammit, this means war. I’m going to go blow my entire paycheck on raid, contact poison, and bait traps. My apartment WILL be reclaimed.

It is at this point that I would ordinarily make a strained pun as to how my Peeps be buggin’, but I don’t think I could get it out past the desolate, wrenching sobs.

Ghosted by Jedoc @ 04/17/2006 9:03 AM EDT


Easter was good. I think for the first time in my life I didn’t make it to church. I had out of town guests comme in Saturday really late and service was at 9am. Then we did the ham dinner thing with family. Then another ballgame.
I ate absolutely no Easter candy this year, though. I think I’ll fix that after work today.

Ghosted by kb @ 04/17/2006 10:05 AM EDT


Hey Matt!

Easter was good in Topeka. Church was nice, and there was a free Easter Breakfast at our church… by the way, is it ok to assume that when the sign says "Free Breakfast", but then when you get in there it asks for donations, its ok to just go by the letter of the law… that being the word "Free"?

Anwyay– Tax day today. Wondered if you had any comments on paying Taxes, or better yet, any funny articles.

Sorry to be so droll.

Ghosted by Dixon Deeper @ 04/17/2006 10:27 AM EDT


Well, you guys completely blew my theory out of the water. Yesterday afternoon, I was just doing the typical Sunday afternoon thing after church and thinking how the fun aspects of Easter disappear once you hit adulthood. I guess that only applies to me. I remember the first Easter we didn’t get baskets. My parents had decided that my sister and I were probably too old to care anymore (they were wrong) and when I got up on Sunday morning and rushed to the living room, there was nothing. I thought maybe my parents had just forgotten to put them out and we’d get something after church. I waited all day. Nothing. They didn’t even mention it. I like to tease my mom with that story about how she broke my heart and scarred me for life. I still miss that aspect of Easter. After I graduated from high school and had a job, I bought my sister (only three years my junior) an Easter basket for the remaining years I lived at home to relive the joy of our shared childhoods. She always appreciated that.

One of my favorite pictures my mom has is of me hunting Easter Eggs in my grandmother’s back yard. In the background is my sister (probably about 2 years old), basket in hand, looking up the backyard spigot. When I think of favorite hiding places, I think of that, even though there’s no way it would ever be possible.

Ghosted by Lori @ 04/17/2006 10:47 AM EDT


Hey, everybody. I’ve been on a hunt all week for something that my friend picked up at Walgreens. It’s a fairly large chocolate egg with a Peep inside. It has a pink foil wrapping with that magical yellow Peep just sitting there mocking me. I think my friend found the last one in Seattle. I’m jealous.

Chris

Ghosted by Chris Martin @ 04/17/2006 11:30 AM EDT


Soooooooo….

Tomato carrot?

Just curious also.

Ghosted by chester copperpot @ 04/17/2006 11:42 AM EDT


First Easter in years I didn’t go to church, but Ma said there was a really big amount of visitors there, so I dodged a bullet there because our church is kinda small. She cooked a turkey for supper, and I realized that I could have stapled paper rabbit ears to it, just for festivities, sake, but it was too late. Spent Saturday evening checking out the annual Ratttlesnake Festival the next town over. Wasn’t as good as usual, most likely because of Easter/Rattlesnake conflict. But it does mean the unofficial start of the County Fair-Carnival season. Bring on the fried cheese!

Ghosted by kingklash @ 04/17/2006 12:15 PM EDT


Well, the time spent with my family was happy on Easter in that I got to be asked to be a bridesmaid in my cousin’s wedding next June. Unfortunately this past weekend was also the weekend I decided to break up with my boyfriend of 3 1/2 years. Sometimes you gotta just walk away from the bullshit and that’s all I’ll say.

Ghosted by Melissa Y. @ 04/17/2006 1:04 PM EDT


Just to remind everyone, Svaed By The Bell starts tonight at Midnight on Adult Swim!

Ghosted by Rixliss @ 04/17/2006 1:41 PM EDT


Great stuff. Now I want to color eggs, but it’s too late to go find some. =\

Ghosted by Spooky Muffin @ 04/17/2006 1:56 PM EDT


What Saved By The Bell is on Adult Swim?

Ghosted by Sonny @ 04/17/2006 4:17 PM EDT


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