A Very Special Easter

We had such a fun Easter this year!  The kids were so excited about the holiday, which made it even more fun.  We have made a few more efforts to make Easter special, and a little different from the traditional one.  As you can see above, we still did the traditional Easter baskets and on Easter morning, but we are making efforts to start new traditions for Easter to make it more Christ-centered.
My mom gave me the book "A Christ-Centered Easter" by Janet and Joe Hales.   (I saw this book on sale at Seagull book the other day for less than $5).  In the book, she has several activities you can do the whole week before Easter to celebrate it's true meaning.  I really like a lot of her ideas.   We only did two of them this year, but plan to try a new one every year until we have a whole week of Easter celebration.

Honestly,  I feel like in our American culture, a lot less fuss is made about Easter  (in the commercial world).  Sure, there is the Easter bunny and the candy,  but it seems like Christmas is celebrated for at least a month before the actual day, by everyone.  (And, in most companies, Easter is not really considered a "holiday", like at the hospital, you do not get "holiday pay" for working Easter like you would at Christmas).  So, Easter is not as recognized as a holiday by the world, but that's okay.  I actually do like the simplicity of it.  Personally, Easter is an even more special holiday to me than Christmas.   For one thing, it is celebrated in the spring, close to the time when revealed word has said that Christ was actually born.  And, it is just an exciting time, when the world outside is just starting to come alive.  Everything is turning green, flowers are blooming...  I love it!!  It is so symbolic of the new life that we receive through our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave His life for us.  We not only celebrate his birth, but his death and resurrection.

On Saturday Evening, the day before Easter, we made our first attempt at a "Passover dinner" with our family, to remember the Passover that the Lord commanded Moses to have with the Children of Israel to remember their escape from Egypt.  This same dinner was held by Christ with his apostles the night before he died.  We had lamb served with pita bread, bitter herbs (which was romaine lettuce), grapes, dates, cheese, yogurt, olives, any foods we knew of that may have been eaten at the time of Christ.  I also made homemade hummus, which was super easy!   We would have sat on the floor in the kitchen on a blanket to eat it, but the weather was so beautiful, we just couldn't resist eating outside on our blanket.  During the meal we had the perfect opportunity to talk to the kids about the symbolism of many of the food items, the lamb, unleavened bread, etc.  It was a lot of fun for the kids and we will definitely make it an annual tradition.

After the dinner, we had a "Plan of Salvation treasure hunt" with the kids.  Each clue around the house included scriptures and follow-up questions about God's plan for us.  At the end of the treasure hunt, we added a bit about God's plan for our family-  the "prize" at the end was golden egg, which held the clue.  It was an ultrasound picture.  We announced that we will be having one more baby in our family at the beginning of October.   Yea!!!   The kids were all really excited about the news.

On Easter day, we had a nice breakfast and then after the kids got dressed, they got to find their Easter baskets outside.  We went to Church and had a lovely meeting.  Then, we drove down to Salt Lake to have dinner with my family.  My mother had also made a passover dinner, and it was fun to see the variation.   At the dinner, we gave my parents a small gift- another golden egg, and you know what was inside.  I loved my brother Nate's clever remark about the egg:  "Is it empty like the tomb or full like the womb?"  Ha ha.   He must have know that one was coming!

The kids got to hunt for eggs at my parents' house as well, and my mom had made baskets for each family with scriptures for each item in the basket.  

Here are a few shots of the kids on my dad's "swings" he made for the kids at the barn:

He took a 'horse walker" and put a motor on it.  With 4 swings where the horses would be harnessed, the kids could ride around the circle over and over!  Ingenious!!  

Who needs to go to Lagoon when you can come here?

I am so thankful for the Savior, for all the things he did for us while on this earth, including the atonement and resurrection, and for all He still continues to do for ME personally, daily.  He is my strength and salvation.  Through Him, I have received my greatest "treasures" in this world.  It is through Him that we can find life eternal and a fulness of joy!   I hope, in the years to come, to make Easter more centered on Him!