holidays

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love the music, the food, the decorations, the smells, the lights… I love it all.  But without a doubt, my favorite part is that it is truly a month long celebration of our Lord’s birth.  And I love that as I am grocery shopping or at the mall, or in the inner harbor of Baltimore, I can hear music which praises His name. 

But, as wonderful as Christmas is, and as very near to my heart it is, it means nothing, NOTHING without Easter.  For Easter is when we remember Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and His conquering of death and sin when he rose from the dead on Easter morning.  

Easter is where it’s at, folks. 

And yet, I don’t know why.  It seems Easter gets much less celebration.  Last year a friend sent me this link with some great ideas of activities to do with your kids Easter week.  I was super excited and bookmarked the site.  Next thing I know it was Easter Sunday and we had done none of the activities. 

You all know that I love a good celebration and will celebrate any day that comes along.  Pi day, anyone?  And therefore, since we are a holiday/celebration loving family, I felt compelled this year to attempt to go all out for Easter.  Being as it is, in my opinion, the holiday most worthy of celebrating.

So,  I mapped out our Easter celebration on my calendar.  We started our resurrection eggs on March 2o, with the goal to finish on Palm Sunday.  I gotta tell you we have missed a few days here and there and had to double up.  But, the kids have really, really enjoyed them and I think the physical symbols of the Easter story in the eggs helps them remember the details of the story.   While my 8 year old already knows what is in each egg and what they represent, I realized my 4 year old doesn’t and so this has been a great review for all of us.  Even our youngest enjoys his turn opening up the egg and playing with what is inside. 

Today, I sat down with the link I mentioned before, my Easter pinterest board and a sheet of paper to map out the week of Holy week and schedule in the things I want to do with the kids next week during our spring break in anticipation of Easter. 

I am so excited!   But, I know that my intentions don’t often pan out, however, here is my dream list of what I’d like to do with the kids in the coming week.  Here they are, in case any of you are looking for some Easter activities to do with your kids in the next week.

This weekend we are going to make a Easter garden like this.  We are also going to go to our neighborhood Easter egg hunt.  I am also hoping to make this adorable egg garland this weekend to hang above our piano.  I bought the supplies today, but not sure if I will attempt this one with the kids or after they are in bed.

Sunday:  We are going to make palm branches out of construction paper and wave them around singing Hosanna!

Monday:  Bake bread for neighbor , make Handprint Easter lily bouquets

Tuesday:  Easter picture tree, and do an Easter egg lunch hunt

Wednesday:  Easter scavenger hunt, make cross shaped Rice Krispy treats

Thursday: foot washing ceremony, also going to make jelly bean bracelets with the girls (I saw the bracelet idea on pinterest but when I went to link to it, the site where it was linked to no longer exists, so here’s the picture.  I assume a needle, thread and jelly beans is all that is needed).

Friday:  GOOD FRIDAY:  For breakfast we are going to have hot crossed buns.  I’ve never made them before but they seemed appropriate for Good Friday.   The recipe calls for raisins which I don’t care for and after an informal face book poll, it seems ok for me to make them without raisins as long as they are hot and crossed.  

I would also like to have each of us write down a sin we’ve done this week and nail it to a cross, as well as do the white carnation in red dyed water activity (both found here).   In the evening, we will also attend our church’s Good Friday service.  It is my most favorite church service of the year.

Saturday:  We are going to invite the grandparents over to dye Easter eggs.  I was also thinking about re-watching the Passion of the Christ after the kids go to bed.

Sunday:  We will go to church Easter morning.  Afterwards we are going to have both sets of grandparents over for Easter dinner. I’m going to have the kids make these resurrection rolls for our dinner.  We are going to have carrot cup cakes for dessert with those trick candles that keep relighting.  We will also do an egg hunt in the backyard.  That night we’ll have a family movie night and watch this animated movie about the life of Christ. 

Without a doubt, my favorite Children’s Story Bible is the Jesus Storybook Bible and I do plan to read the Easter story to them from it on Easter weekend as well.   I’ve also pulled out my copy of No Wonder They Call Him the Savior by Max Lucado to read personally this week. 

I gotta confess I set out on the first day of Lent to read the Holy Week account during Lent, and I got off track somewhere during week 1 and haven’t kept up.   I hope I do a better job this week of staying on track.  I can’t wait to worship our Lord on Easter morning and I think my worship will be much more heartfelt if I spend the week reflecting on my sin, and on His sacrifice for me. 

Happy Easter everyone!

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