Confession:
I don’t know how to celebrate Easter.
I want to make it a special holiday for my children, but I don’t know how. I want to make it more than a chocolate bunny, more than an early service at church, which both are fine, but heretofore the extent of our festivities.
Isn’t heretofore a marvelous word?
I want to put Jesus into my children’s hands, to let them touch his story with their fingers and taste it with their mouths and sniff it in the air around them.
This year I’m trying a couple new ideas, found here at Catholic Digest. Resurrection Eggs are a DIY project that we are starting tomorrow. Ironically, my children are disappointed that the eggs will not contain candy. But I am looking forward to a chance to tell the whole story in detail.
And I plan to make Resurrection Rolls with my boys on Good Friday or Saturday. I like the significance of each of the ingredients, and hope the treats will turn out well, unlike the empty-tomb meringues I tried several years ago which simply turned to stone.
(No offense to the original cooks for the recipe; I’m sure it works for people who can do meringues. I cannot. But the boys loved the process, half enacting the Easter story. They still talk about it.)
I don’t reject secular celebration entirely. I don’t think bunnies and chicks are wickedly distracting from the Real Meaning of Easter. But I want to celebrate what I believe, the true story.
How does Easter become tangible for you?
Confession: This year I am too tired to think about doing anything special for Easter. Your ideas are wonderful. Geryll’s mom made a tomb using a gallon plastic milk jug (and lots of fabric and paint). Sometime I’d like to do that.
I thought about hanging a paper cross on the wall by the table. Every evening we could write some wrong we’d done or experienced that day and realize together how Jesus died for that. In the weeks following Easter I would replace the cross with an empty tomb. We would write an area where we felt weakness/need and talk about how Jesus lives to intercede for us and give us abundant life My boys seem a bit small to comprehend these things. But, too often I underestimate what they can understand. It would be powerful for Geryll and I.
Beautiful!! You make me laugh–too tired to think, but with this brilliant and meaningful idea. Thank you! I am going to try that paper cross.
Shari, I’m so glad you are wanting to let the boys and Kelly get into it with their hands, their tastebuds and all. I did find a garden of grace on Ann Voskamps blog A Holy Experience or 1000 Gifts. I know that Chastin and Madison made one yesterday and Renita was also making one! Blessings to you and Ryan and your little ones as you experience Jesus in a new way this Easter!
I like “heretofore” also, along w/ “henceforth”. Thanks for your honesty about the meringue stones. I’ve debated about creating that recipe w/ my kids, as I can picture them enjoying “beating the pecans” with the wooden spoon (as I’m sure Regan did). My oven is usually full of Easter food, and just hasn’t worked out. As one suggestion for Easter– we do resurrection eggs and Benjamin’s box, something we always forget to start early enough to get done in time… but intriguing for this age of kids. Unfortunately, our Easter is wrapped up in new dresses and baskets– which makes me exceedingly sad.
All I can say is Lucky Kids to have you for a mom! 🙂
Yes, yes!
This year I’m going to try to do a grace garden with Taylor… it’s an idea I got from Ann Voskcamp. You should look her up if you haven’t already at aholyexperience.com because she is a mom with kids and she has TONS of ideas on how to do everything… =)
Here is a link for an easy resurrection set, if you are interested, http://catholicicing.com/2011/04/religious-easter-craft-for-kids-make/
It’s an old post, I know, but this year we decided we would buy my husband and our boys a new or new-for-us shirt and make a new dress or buy a new item of clothing for me to remind us that Jesus gives us a robe of righteousness to wear.