Eggs, a Garden, and Eternal Life.

In the weeks leading up to Easter my mommy friend Jill and I were mumbling about the evils of bunnies and eggs and other commercial ills.

Just like the Santa conundrum, there had to be a way to refocus our family on Christ instead of the Easter bunny, without completely killing the fun.

So I went where any smart momma goes seeking answers… Pinterest.

I found some idea’s worth playing with.  With our wonderful friends the Swenson’s we had one of the best Easter’s ever.  

Thursday we had a Jerusalem Supper.  We sat on cushions and blankets on the floor and ate from several big platters. We ate dates, figs, nuts, flat bread, Greek yogurt, hummus, and gorgeous homemade grape juice.   Steve Swenson said it reminded him of his trip to the BYU Jerusalem center.

                                                                                                           

After dinner we talked about Christ washing His apostle’s feet.  Then we took turns washing each others' feet.  The kids loved this and it was so sweet and holy to watch them serve each other like this.

Finally, we went out on the deck and put together our Resurrection Garden.  We talked about the Garden of Gethsemane and the sacrifice of Christ made for us in that garden. We talked about the symbolism of the objects and the stones that make the path to the tomb in our garden. How Christ is our Path to Eternal Life. The kids loved putting the items in our garden.

Friday we placed a little stick cross up in our garden and talked about the events on that long ago Friday.

  Saturday Morning we joined several families at the Swenson house for an Easter Egg Hunt.       Find 200 eggs?  No problem!  The kids didn’t even mind that it was a bit breezy.

 

 

Later on back home, we talked about how Jesus’ friends would be feeling very sad and missing Him.  This year we had a very personal reference.  This past January the kids experienced their first death when we lost Grandma Maw.  We talked about her funeral and how we shared stories and memories about Grandma.  We imagined that Christ’s friends and followers were sharing stories and memories about Him on that long ago Saturday.  We took a white table cloth and decorated it with our favorite stories of Jesus. Then we removed the tiny cross and moved the stone in front of the garden "tomb."

First thing Sunday morning I woke before the kids.  I rolled away the stone from the tomb.  I placed a small white cloth inside the tomb floor.  Then I lit the little candles. 

Perhaps the best part of our Easter was, when the kids came running up stairs that morning, before asking if the bunny came, they asked to see the garden. And there it was, candles lit, stone rolled away, with the morning sun streaming down on it through the windows.  Holy.

The Easter Bunny did come by bringing the usual candy, books, and of course Peeps! Then the kiddos got all dressed in their darling Easter clothes, courtesy of Mimi and Papa.

After a beautiful day at church we headed back to the Swenson’s (bless Jill’s hospitable heart!) for Easter Supper.  We used our white table cloth with the stories of Jesus on it and Kari Swenson added her favorite stories too.  

A wonderful, blessed Easter.