So many traditions in my family have changed as we all grew up. Times like the week before a holiday is where it usually hits me how much I miss all we used to do to celebrate as young kids. So in college this week, I - and I’m sure many other college students as well - will be missing these and other traditions that are linked to Easter:

1. Dying Easter eggs.

Sibling competitions were raging during these color-filled nights around the kitchen table. Whether you dipped eggs in multiple color cups to create new shades or if you stuck to dipping multiple times in one color cup so the shade would be darker and more vivid, the cartons of masterpiece eggs wound up varied from all of us kids. There was always disappointment when one of us double dipped into the yellow color with the side of the egg that was freshly dipped in the blue cup, but mom always saved the day with the extra color packs and vinegar.

2. The Easter Bunny coming to hide the baskets.

Waking up to your parents telling you that the Easter Bunny came with gifts while you were sleeping was one of the greatest joys of childhood, right behind Santa Claus of course. Growing up meant the Easter Bunny no longer stuffed the gift baskets full of jelly beans and chocolates, but stuffed them with socks instead.

3. Easter egg hunts.

Whether in the neighborhood, with the cousins, or at church, there was always at least one egg hunt during the weeks leading up to Easter, and it was always competitive. As a younger kid, it was customary to lose to the taller, faster, bigger kids. As an older kid, you got to distract the younger kids so you would get the most candy and the dollar bills in the special eggs. As an even older kid, now I look forward to hiding the eggs in the toughest places to make the kids work hard. Candy shouldn’t be just given away of course.

4. Taking structured sibling pictures.

Sometimes, the Easter Bunny can be found in these pictures, or it’s just the siblings, squinting because of the sun or grumpy because it’s still early. The best holiday pictures will definitely be found later in the day, but the chances of one kid having changed back into pajamas also rises as the time of day becomes later. Even though these pictures annoyed us as kids, I’m glad we have them to laugh about now years later. And we still take these pictures every holiday, of course. We’re just a lot older and a little more compliant now.

5. Jelly beans.

I miss the days where my basket would be completely full of jelly beans of all flavors and brands. My siblings and I even went so far to trade jelly bean flavors for our favorites so we would be able to enjoy them the most. (Just like Starburst, pink jelly beans will always be best.)

I’m lucky enough to be able to make the trip home for Easter weekend, but to all the college students who are stuck on campus for the holiday, I hope you are able to get to a grocery store to buy some jelly beans and hollow chocolate bunnies. And if you don’t celebrate Easter, at least there will be aisles of candy on sale on Monday.