Easter Events

Easter is probably the most important holiday of the year for our family, in that who we are as followers of Christ is built upon our faith that He died for us & lives again. But like Christmas, it's a holiday that has been reduced by our consumer culture to something much less meaningful. It's always a challenge for me to try and extract meaning for my son in the midst of all the holiday symbols that seem to be in every store window or grocery aisle. Here is one thing that we did as a family to help us focus on Jesus (& I would love to hear what things your family does to keep perspective as well!).

This year I took a suggestion from Noel Piper's book, Treasuring God in our Traditions (which has wonderful ideas for throughout the year) and my son and I made an Easter mountain out of dough. He kneaded it and formed it into a mountain (which didn't rise as much as I'd anticipated...will have to work on that next year!) and we put a cross at the top and formed a cave on the side (for Jesus' tomb).

On Good Friday we acted out the Biblical account of the crucifixion (as much as a 4 year old can understand of it anyway) and put Jesus in the tomb. On Easter morning, Jesus' body was gone, the tomb was empty! It was a great way to start Easter day. We followed it up by worshiping at church, where Mama got to sing in an Easter choir. It really added to my experience of worship, having practiced the songs ahead of time (and letting them run through my head all weekend) and singing in front and seeing everyone worshiping together. It has been a long time since I've sang in church and I'd missed it.

After church we headed off for the family gathering...it was a beautiful day and all the kids had a fun time. There was a short Easter egg hunt and a lot of running around and playing together. My camera run out of battery power, but I bummed a few good shots off my mom. Enjoy!