Building simple family traditions that center on Christ are what we strive to create during the Easter season. It feels like a proactive effort to let go of the "noise" and commercialism that surrounds the holiday. Every year we seem to tweak, add or refine something, but it has absolutely become one of my most favorite holidays. I wanted to write a few of our traditions down for memory!
Palm Sunday - We typically begin our Easter focus the Sunday prior. We love the Bible videos that bring the scriptures to life. In past years, the kiddos made palm leaves out of construction paper and took turns walking over them. This year, it was fun to go in our backyard and connect with actual Palm Leaves.
We use these bible videos.
During dinner that night (we've built a tradition that at the end of our Sunday Dinners, we'll have a gospel-centered discussion. Often, we start with a short video and then chat from there.), we watched the Because of Him video and all chose a specific focus to center more on Christ. I loved this idea, and next year I think it might be fun for us to incorporate for the whole month leading up to Easter, or in conjunction with Lent!
Holy Week - Each night we read the scriptures/watch the Bible video that connects with the Holy Week. This year we were a little off with it being the same week as our vacation, so we had a couple catch ups, but it all worked out. We usually finish up with a short discussion - sharing why this part of history connects to our every day life, and how we can strive to follow the teachings and example of Christ.
Jerusalem Dinner - We started this tradition a couple years ago, and it is a favorite! Depending on how scheduling works out, we try to do this on Thursday night, in conjunction with the last supper, but this year, it fit better for us to do on Saturday night. We keep the meal simple - and it seems to evolve depending on what I can put together to "represent" a dinner from long ago. This year, we ate outside, with little tea lights and background music. We chat together about the Holy Week, what it means to us, and share our love for Christ and for families. We keep it really informal, short and it's of course mixed in with whatever topic comes up, but it has those mindful moments where we just feel present and connected.
Easter Egg Hunt - I LOVE family Easter egg hunts! I find myself smiling the whole time. I actually signed up for our neighborhood Easter egg hunt (held the week prior) and even dropped off the eggs prior to the event. And then forgot to go! Ha! Oh well, it all worked out. We did our hunt in the backyard, and combined two types of eggs. Some were full of candy (of course) and others were numbered filled with scriptures and a little object that connected with the scripture. After everyone found their eggs, we went through the numbered scripture eggs, and it's handy that the kids have fun munching on their candy while reading them too!
Sugar Cookies - We make these every year - since it seems like they don't get enough sugar already! The girls love helping in the kitchen, and making cookies together is just fun (messy, but fun!).
Easter Eggs - We usually dye these and use them as an Easter decoration along with some spring flowers, but didn't get to it this year!
Artwork - This year, we printed the packet from the small seed and used art to connect to Christ as well. To me, art is so calming and mindful. It is such a beautiful way to center and connect things we may hear or see and express in a personal way. Alexis really took to this one - and it reminded me how meaningful it is to have a variety of different mediums to teach principles as different kiddos strengths will connect in different ways.
Sunday Morning Devotional - Our first thing on Sunday morning is a Christ-centered devotional. We typically have an Easter breakfast - for us it's German pancakes! We love attending church - and this year we loved that our church held the semi-annual conference on Easter. It was amazing to soak in!
Easter baskets: These are fun to look for and in full disclosure, Tayler found hers and said, “Mom and Dad, you are totally doing these. There’s not a bunny that hides these!” Probably not too hard to figure out since I realized about 10pm night prior that we didn’t have any “Easter baskets” (those didn’t make it in the move!) and used some gift bags (which of course she totally recognized). Initially, I thought “oh no! I’ve spoiled it for her” but I let that thought go and realized how freeing it felt that she knew for herself what was real about Easter, what wasn’t, and was happy and content all the same. We’ve never really chatted about the bunny anyway, so for us, it feels like one more way to simplify and focus on the fun and deeper purpose of the holiday.
It's our hope that these traditions will not only connect our kiddos (and ourselves) more deeply to Easter, and center our minds on Christ, but that through this study, it's something that we can continue to be mindful all year long. President Spencer W. Kimball said that "perhaps the most important word in the dictionary is remember." And that's our hope. To remember.
Photos from the Easter egg Hunt:
Loved Tayler’s interpretation of this!
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