On Monday, I asked the kids if they knew what holiday was coming. Of course they did. The Easter Bunny was coming. J smiled and said, "Um, Easter Bunny, I mean Mom, don't you think you should take us shopping so we can show you what we want?" I asked him what happened to the 
part about Christ and the Resurrection. All I got was a room full of blank stares. So, for Family Home Evening, we decided to show the kids the movie Easter Dream. I cried through it cuz that's what I do best and they all laughed at me cuz that's what they do best. When it was over, Hubby had to quickly head off to finish up some work so it was just the kids and I. We headed to the kitchen to make Bird Nests.Secret: I have found that the best way to get my kids to open up and talk to me is when we are doing something together side by side and they feel they are on equal ground with me, whether it's cooking or cleaning or working, whatever. It's my favorite times because they open up and talk and talk and talk.
Okay, so back to my story. I had never made these before and the instructions were kind of vague so we did them by trial and error. The first idea didn't work, neither did the second or third, but eventually we figured it out and then we were on a roll. It was fun to figure it out together. So, as we were thinking and creating our masterpieces, the subject of "Easter" came up again. The kids were so amazed at what the true reason for celebrating Easter really was. They had heard the story before and they knew how it went but they had not put it all together like that before. And then they were disappointed when they thought about the Easter Bunny and egg hunts and gifts. Not because they now had nothing fun to look forward 
to but because the celebrations made no sense. What does bunny's and chickens and eggs and candy and presents have to do with Christ being crucified and then resurrected. With Christmas they were able to make the connection but they felt like Easter traditions were way off. (I love having these deep learning conversations with my kids.)So, we are on a search to figure out what all the commercial type things have to do with the spiritual meaning of Easter and then what traditions and activities are going to be important enough to be a part of our yearly celebration. It'll be fun to see what they come up with.
What Easter traditions are important in your families?
9 comments:
Well, Easter is always the first sunday after the vernal equinox, or first day of spring. So I'm thinking the eggs and the bunnies and the chicks are more of a spring celebration and it kind of got lumped together with Easter. So maybe you could have an egg hunt and candy and stuff and call it a spring celebration!
For Good Friday I always make hot cross buns (cinnamon rolls). That has always been a family tradition. We talk about Christ and his life, death, and resurrection that day as well. Or sometimes we go to temple square and visit the Christus and look at all the pictures of Christ's life.
We do an easter egg hunt with the kids on Saturday, but mine all said they are too old to do that this year. They just want to dye the eggs. I also usually get the kids new sunday clothes. Nothing fancy, but something they can wear the rest of the summer.
That is really cool that you have kids old enough to really get what it is all about. You should post the recipe for the birds nest's. Hmmmm....that is a good point. Scott and I haven't really made up our own traditions yet other than the two of us reading the easter story.
In the days before Easter, my mom had a special tradition she would do.
She would read the Easter story from the scriptures, day by day. Like, the Friday before Easter she would read from the scriptures, what happened on the Friday before Easter.
I remember decorating our entry way with palm leaves and flowers on the day we read about Jesus triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
And we always had a passover meal, featuring some of the foods the jew in that time would have eaten (fish, flat bread, grapes, etc.)
I want to start this up with my own kids. Maybe next year.
Just today, we watched, Worthy the Lamb and He is Risen and discussed Easter and what it means.
We always make resurrection rolls--the ones where you dip marshmellows in melted butter and cinammon and wrap them in crescent rolls to symbolize the body of Christ being annoited and wrapped in burial clothes, and then when you bake them the marshmellow "disappears" from inside the roll. At different times we have also made those cookies where every step (breaking the nuts etc) symbolizes part of Christ's experience and has a corresponding scripture, and done a cedar tray in honor of passover. Those haven't caught on enough for every year, though. We always read the scriptures and watch the Lamb of God.
We do an egg hunt on Saturday, but generally downplay the bunny thing. When we talk about that i just say that new plants grow and baby animals are born in the spring, and thinking about new life reminds of how grateful we are for the resurrection and that we can live again after the "death" of winter.
I know that the rabbit used to symbolize "new life" as in Christ being resurected, but now that no one knows that, every one wonders what's up with the bunny. It's just a symbol.
In my house at Easter, at Christmas with Santa as well(I get so much grief for this), we don't do the whole Easter thing. I focus on the things that are important to me. Easter is about Christ, as is Christmas. So while we will do an egg hunt on Saturday, Sunday is all about our Savior. We treat Santa like we would Buzz Lightyear. He's a fun story, but no one gets gifts from Santa and I don't tell my kids he's coming. The magic of Christmas is somewhere else for me, I guess.
Hey Laurie, not to burst any bubbles or ruin Easter for anyone, but as with most of our holidays, Easter was assigned to go along with the pagan holiday too. The Easter bunny and eggs symbolize the God of fertility. Most of the traditions like that go along with the pagen holiday. The true jewish holidays and thier traditions symbolize what we are celebrating with Easter. We are also downplaying the Easter bunny. The kids all have a big party at Grandmas(Palmer) each year, but we have found that is more than enough, so we will be doing family activites like the park on saturday, and then focus their attention on sunday. I got them new sunday shirts and ties to talk about the resurrection that is about all. I really hope I didn't ruin Easter for you.
Although you should make Christ the center of the Easter holiday, I don't believe that other fun traditions need to be overlooked. Maybe you could have the easter bunny and egg hunt Saterday, leaving Sunday for the true meaning of Easter to be celebrated?
Or maybe introduce some religious things (books, talk tapes, etc..) in the easter baskets. Tell the story of easter as you dye eggs.
How about that cute little nest recipe? You sharing?? We would love it!!
The bunny and eggs to us just symbolize Spring - new life and as Christ was resurrected- new life. It's just fun. We have an Easter book that I made at an Enrichment Meeting with the scriptures and pictures and songs that tell the True Easter Story.
I have nothing new to add. My kids are still so small and I am looking for traditions to start, so it was fun to read all the other comments.
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