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47 Years Later, 10K Eggs Cover Easter Tree

Here's the amazing part: They're real, not plastic

By the Associated Press

Posted Apr 4, 2012 11:35 AM CDT

(AP) – Money may not grow on trees, but Easter eggs apparently do, thanks to one German man. Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter in 1965. The number increased year by year; by last year, the sturdy tree was festooned with 9,800 eggs, artfully decorated with everything from sequins to sea shells. This time, Kraft has reached 10,000—and he says he's stopping there.

Kraft started with plastic eggs decades ago, but later switched to real eggs and enlisted his family's help in blowing out the insides of the eggs and painting them. "You can now see here what develops after 47 years, when the tree grows, the wife blows the eggs and the children start painting," he says. But no more. "There will be no increase because I do not have storage capacity anymore," the 76-year-old retiree says. "I would have to sleep with the eggs otherwise."

In this March 21, 2012 file picture Volker Kraft decorates a tree with 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany.
In this March 21, 2012 file picture Volker Kraft decorates a tree with 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany.   (Jens Meyer)
Amy-Mia Wiesmann stands under a decorated tree with 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany, Wednesday, March 21, 2012.
Amy-Mia Wiesmann stands under a decorated tree with 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany, Wednesday, March 21, 2012.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
The Kraft family has been decorating their tree for Easter for more than forty years.
The Kraft family has been decorating their tree for Easter for more than forty years.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer)
Decorated Easter eggs in the exhibition of pensioner couple Christa and Volker Kraft's garden in Saalfeld, Germany.
Decorated Easter eggs in the exhibition of pensioner couple Christa and Volker Kraft's garden in Saalfeld, Germany.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)
Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter.
Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)
Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter.
Volker Kraft's apple sapling sported just 18 eggs when he first decorated it for Easter.   (AP Photo/Jens Meyer, file)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 9 comments
Riffran
Apr 4, 2012 9:37 PM CDT
Good thing it wasn't in Seattle they would make him rename it a spring sphere tree
myflap.blow
Apr 4, 2012 2:55 PM CDT
this is your ovary on drugs
Moon
Apr 4, 2012 2:50 PM CDT
That's gotta stink. Nothing worse than the smell of rotten eggs.

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