I tried to make Easter extra special. With church only being an hour long on Easter, I was reminded of my responsibility to teach my children what an important day it is. Elder Stevenson started General Conference by talking about this exact subject and making Easter as big of a deal as Christmas. He quoted N. T. Wright, "We should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: In art, literature, children's games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts... This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don't have a New Testament; you don't have a Christianity."
Easter Scriptures
My sister sent me an idea from Later Day Baby. For 8 days until Easter, you read specific scriptures about what happened that day. Our kids really enjoyed this and they listened surprisingly well. While driving to an Easter egg hunt, Isabelle asked why the Holy Ghost told Jesus to jump off a cliff. We were very confused until she told us we read it in the scriptures the prior night. Clearly, we didn't explain well that Satan wanted Jesus to jump off a cliff to prove he was God.
Easter Walk
I heard about an Easter walk in Alpine and immediately planned a time to do it. The walk is only open for a 3-day period and after hearing there was a 20-minute wait to get into the walk on Easter, I'm glad we went the first day. (Friday). We invited Grandma Langlois to join us. We went out to dinner first to celebrate Grandma's 85th birthday. It was a delightful evening. Grandma knows the Alpine area well and had a lot to tell us. The weather was perfect and the walk was in a gorgeous neighborhood. The walk didn't take long, but it was really neat. There were signs with scriptures on them, 3 crosses, and a tomb with a rock. I got choked up explaining to our kids what events happened there. I could tell that James felt the spirit too. We had some complaints when we initially told the kids about the walk, but who would have guessed they would be sad it ended? Seeing these sights was powerful and memorable. According to my grandma, it looked just like the holy land which she has been to.
Easter Books
The Easter Bunny brought the new book called, "Savior" By: Maddie Daetwyler. I highly recommend it. The words and images are gorgeous. We also read and own another picture book, "He is Risen" By: Liz Lemon Swindle which is beautiful too.
12 Egg Easter Activity
When I was in the primary presidency, we created baggies full of 12 eggs and delivered them to each family in the ward. Each egg is numbered and has a scripture and object inside. To find out more specifics about this activity, go to this website: https://www.ldsliving.com/a-fun-and-simple-easter-egg-tradition-that-will-get-your-kids-excited-about-the-saviors-life/s/87972.
This activity helps kids visualize the events that took place leading up to Easter with the number 12 egg being empty/object-free because He is Risen! When my calling used to be activity days leader, we did this for one of our activities. This year, as I went to pull out my Easter stuff, I noticed that the kids has gotten into my numbered eggs for this activity. Some of the scriptures and objects were missing. I was so sad. I immediately made a new set of eggs and now keep them in a spot that will be left untouched by little fingers. We did this activity after sacrament meeting on Easter.
Easter Dinner
I hosted Easter dinner and invited my siblings and their families over. We had a wonderful time! I'm trying not to think too much about the fact that my family dynamics are going to change once again this summer when some family members move... Enough about that. Dinner was amazing! Everyone helped bring stuff and it all came together seamlessly. Jeff made his perfected brisket! Lindsey made yummy lemon pies! Jess and Chris brought grandma's potatoes which were so cheesy and delicious. Alexa made her famous strawberry lemonade and a salad. I made rolls, corn, raspberry pretzel jello salad, and deviled eggs. I have been relishing the leftovers.
We did an Easter Egg hunt for the cousins, the trampoline got a lot of use, and Uno and Go Fish were popular. We'll do our best to erase the dead bird image from our memory that was found during the hunt. We learned that James has inherited my Easter Egg hunt competitiveness. His cousin tripped and fell and all of her eggs fell out of her basket. James immediately started taking her eggs. A teaching opportunity arose. I love my family! Using paper plates helped reduce cleanup afterward, but I was still tired after a busy and eventful day.
Easter Music
Since I am the ward music coordinator, I was asked to have 3 musical numbers on Easter Sunday. The choir performed 2 songs and Jessica played the violin. I accompanied Jess and was so grateful she played in my ward. We also played in an assisted living later in the afternoon. I felt the spirit strongly while she was playing (she's incredible) and thankfully I held it together so I could see the keys.
I can't deny that Jesus is Risen and is a God of miracles. He has been right with me through some difficult times and has shown me so many tender mercies. We tried to make Easter different this year. I'm already gathering ideas for Easter next year, so if you have any, send them my way!