I've seen a few Northland houses with colorful plastic Easter eggs hanging from trees in their yard.  I applaud their decorating efforts.  If I did that at my house, the neighborhood kids would take care of them as soon as I turned my back!!  Here's a German couple that has taken Easter egg tree decorating to a whole new level!

Easter comes but once a year - but one couple have turned it into a lifetime's project.  German pensioners Volker and Christa Kraft have decorated the tree in their back garden in Saalfeld for Easter for more than 40 years. The tree now drips with more than 9,800 colourful Easter eggs, painted with pastoral scenes and religious icons.

Impressive: Volker Kraft adds to the 9,800 Easter eggs hanging from the tree in garden of the home he shares with his wife Christa

Each egg must be painstakingly emptied of yolk and whites, to ensure it will not go bad, before they can be hand painted and hung out for all to see.

The easiest way is to pierce two holes in each end of the egg with a hat-pin, then blow out the contents through a straw.

The better equipped can use a syringe pushed through just one hole to extract the gooey gubbins. But be cautious when handling raw eggs - they may carry salmonella.

Symbol of life: Carefully packed and intricately decorated Easter eggs lie waiting to be hung from the Krafts' tree.  The egg is a pagan symbol of rebirth, widely used in spring festivals before its adoption by early Christians as a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

For followers of Christianity they are symbolic of Christ rising from his tomb two days after his death on the cross.

What a great yearly tradition this couple has started to share with others!

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