News Taffy

Like a lot of people, most of my memories of Easter revolve around church services, egg hunts and time spent with family … and then there’s the year of The Great Occasions Easter Egg Caper.

Holidays can be especially challenging for single parents. A few years ago, I found myself in that position. I was overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done the night before Easter, and it was getting late. I was exhausted, but still needed to cook a few things for a family Easter meal, dye eggs with the kids and assist the Easter Bunny in any way needed after the kids went to bed.

I had managed to do some shopping the week before and had left the items at the office. So, at approximately 9 p.m., I drove up to the Occasions office to pick up the items I would need to get everything ready. I turned on the lights, picked up three or four plastic shopping bags and headed back to my vehicle. I attempted to juggle the bags in one hand while unlocking the back of the SUV, but one of the plastic bags fell to the paved parking lot. It didn’t sound promising.

Out of all the bags in my hands, only one contained anything fragile – a bottle of vinegar needed to dye eggs. As I reached down to survey the damage, the distinct smell of vinegar wafted up from the bag. Looking back, I must have been too tired to cry. Not only was I going to have to return to the grocery store on the night before Easter, but everything in the bag – candy and various components of Easter baskets not yet assembled – was now doused in vinegar!

I carefully removed what was salvageable and threw the pieces of broken glass and the vinegar soaked bag into the dumpster. I got back in my vehicle, which now smelled like a pickle factory, and tried to psych myself up for another trip to the grocery store. As I was about to back out, I remembered that I hadn’t retrieved the three chocolate Easter eggs that I had purchased for my kids from a member of a local church. I got back out of my car, unlocked the office door and walked to the kitchen.

When I opened the refrigerator door, I couldn’t believe my eyes. Two of the three chocolate-covered Easter eggs that I had placed in the refrigerator after everyone left on Good Friday were missing.

Seriously? Who would take someone’s hand-decorated, chocolate-covered, peanut butter-filled Easter eggs? I stared into the open refrigerator in disbelief before finally retrieving the remaining chocolate egg and returning to my car. In the midst of that monumental meltdown, I did what any mother of three who was short two candy Easter eggs would do. I sat there in my now vinegar-scented vehicle and I ate that chocolate egg. After all, what good was one perfectly decorated candy egg going to do me with three kids at home?

I went back to the store to replace the items I needed and finally made it back home to begin cooking, but throughout the night, my thoughts focused on which staff member could have possibly eaten my children’s chocolate Easter eggs. By this time, I had questioned and cleared the only child at home who was of driving age and had access to the office. After that, I shamefully admit that the main suspect in my mind became the only male in the office – then associate publisher Jonathan Adams.

As I finished up what needed to be done before I could go to bed, I decided to share my frustration with my staff. I grabbed my phone and sent them a text shortly after midnight. “Whoever took two of the three chocolate Easter eggs for my kids that were stored in the office refrigerator, please see me in my office first thing Monday morning.”

It’s funny now to hear their reactions upon receiving the text – especially from all of those who knew they were not the culprit. Staff member Lori Tyson even came up to me at church on Easter morning and assured me she was not the guilty party.

At some point during that Easter holiday, I received a text from an unlikely suspect. A staff member and her grandson had come up to the office after everyone had left on Good Friday. Based on the fact that I had purchased chocolate-covered strawberries for the staff on Valentine’s Day, she assumed that I had purchased the eggs for staff. She apologized and admitted that she and her grandson ate two of the eggs. Because I had purchased the eggs after the office had closed for the holiday weekend, I did not mark the eggs with names - wrongly assuming no one would return before Monday.

At last, The Great Occasions Easter Egg Caper was solved, and no staff members were harmed. Although several members of the staff have moved on since then, we still laugh about the missing eggs and that early morning text they received that Easter.

As for me, I no longer buy vinegar in a glass bottle and I have learned better than to store candy Easter eggs in the office fridge.