Decorating Easter tree with thousands of eggs

The Kraft family has been decorating their tree for Easter for more than forty years

Volker Kraft decorates a tree with 10,000 Easter eggs in the garden of the retired couple Christa and Volker Kraft in Saalfeld, Germany.

With Easter coming up in six weeks, a German pensioner Monday started decorating an apple tree in his yard with the first of thousands of Easter eggs.

Since 1965, Volker Kraft from the town of Saalfeld in the eastern state of Thuringia has been turning his apple tree into an “egg tree” (“Eierbaum“).

He started with 18 Easter eggs more than 40 years ago. The 77-year-old expects to deck out the tree with some 10,000 eggs this year.

The eggs were lovingly decorated by his wife and daughter in a variety of techniques and media including paint or pearls.

Kraft’s Easter tree has gained international recognition over the years, and has fans all over the world thanks to press reports. The “egg tree” even has its own web page.

Once the tree is completely decorated over the next two weeks, Kraft will leave the garden gate open until Easter so friends and neighbours can come by and have a look.