Happy very belated Easter!! We’re still in the month of April, so I feel like it’s not too late to say that. 🙂 We had a very nice Easter together, and I hope everyone else did as well! It’s such an important holiday, so we have tried to be deliberate about doing things to make it special and reclaiming it for Jesus instead of just the Easter Bunny.
On Good Friday we read some traditional devotions throughout the day called “Stations of the Cross.” It is a series of 14 readings that highlight different moments of the day Jesus was crucified, beginning with his condemnation and ending with his crucifixion. They were short and easy to read, but I found them to be very powerful and helpful for focusing on the importance of the day. (I will say, these are Catholic prayers, so being good Baptists, we augmented them slightly as needed. 😜) Here is a link to the ones we read:
https://www.catholic.org/prayers/station.php?id=1
While that was something new, our Easter day traditions have been the same for the last few years. We went to our awesome church in the morning, and then made resurrection rolls in the afternoon. The kids always love doing this, and it can be a really simple activity. Ours is less simple because I make the dough from scratch (because that is just who I am, I’m not sure why), but you can be a normal person and just use canned crescent roll dough.
If you are not familiar with them, they are a way of representing Jesus’ resurrection. With food! Which is always my preferred method of instruction. You take a marshmallow, which represents Jesus’ body, and prepare it for burial by coating it with “oil” (which is actually butter) and rolling it in “spices” (a cinnamon and sugar mixture). You then place it in the “tomb” (the crescent roll) and leave it for three days. Just kidding, don’t actually leave it for three days. Just put them in the oven and bake until done. When you open up the tombs, you will find that they are empty!
“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” Luke 24:5b-6a
We did an egg hunt for the kids in the evening. A lot of times egg hunts are actually just egg grabs because they are scattered all over the ground for children to easily snatch up in 1.3 seconds. We prefer to bring back the hunt aspect so that the kids have to actually put some effort into it. Halloween has already set an expectation of an easy reward – I say “trick or treat” (or not) and you give me candy. We need to break kids of this and make them work for their prize! 😆 Each kid has an egg color and has to find their own eggs, so we can hide them according to their ability. The problem comes when we forget where we have hidden the eggs! Thankfully, we remembered where they all were this year.
Instead of candy (because all the regular egg hunts get us plenty well-stocked on candy) we write encouraging notes to the kids telling them things we like about them or reasons we are proud of them. (I mentioned this in another post where we utilized the same idea for another occasion: Birthday Piñata!!) It is always fun to read them to the kids afterward, and it ensures that we are speaking words of encouragement to them at least occasionally. It is so important to be deliberate about telling people around you that they are loved and valued! And it’s easy to let slide in the day to day, so this is a way to build it into our life.
Do you have anything in particular you like to do on Easter?? I hope it was an enjoyable and meaningful day for each of you!!
Another great share! I love your traditions, and drawn to your empty tomb snack. I’ve heard it, but never tried it. Thank you always for sharing.
Thank you so much!! You should give the rolls a try. They seem right up your alley! Mmmm, especially if you made them with your bread dough!! 😋