Our Easter Celebrations

We are having a great time celebrating Easter!

You have heard of the twelve days of Christmas, right?  

How about the FIFTY days of Easter?

After the forty days of Lent, I am thrilled that the Easter celebration lasts even longer.

We have a lot of jellybeans to eat from our basket;

always more jellybeans than the number of black beans we put in during Lent.

This is our reminder that Jesus makes all things new.

Our Easter weekend was a blessing in many ways.

We spent several special days with our cousins, playing outside, enjoying the amazing weather, riding bikes, swinging high, playing chase and drawing with chalk.  

Cousin E flying high Easter weekend.

Our cousins treated us to a rousing egg hunt at church on Saturday.

G-Bear and E-Bear did a great job finding their eggs.

I was so proud of how conscientious they were, even during the excitement of the hunt.

"Did I find the right number of eggs?" E-Bear asked.

"Let's go see what's inside, Mom."

E-Bear enjoying his treasures.

Baby Bear enjoyed watching the hunt from the backpack, 

but he wasted no time exploring G-Bear's basket afterwards. 

 G-Bear was so nice to share!

 We spent Easter morning at our house.  

"Look, Mom! The Easter Bunny made a HUGE mess in our house!" Said G-Bear when she saw our living room.  We had a great hunt!  E-Bear and G-Bear found all the eggs, jellybeans, and chocolates. They especially enjoyed the new pairs of sunglasses, Spiderman and Rapunzel socks and new books that were wrapped by their Easter baskets.

"Awe, the Easter Bunny wished me happy birthday with my Tangled socks!" Said G-Bear.

Easter morning.  He is Risen!

I feel a special calling this year to make a big deal of the Easter season with my kids.  Fifty days is a long time, but the liturgical celebration reminds us of how significant Christ's rising is for the world. Someday, I hope my kids know and embrace that significance in their own lives.  For now, I want them to feel the miracle of Easter through our ongoing celebrations with family and friends.

Our painted Easter eggs!

During this first week of Easter, the Easter Octave, we are coloring Easter pages, decorating our house, and embarking on daily egg hunts at our park with the eggs we made together last week.  We're enjoying our Easter treats, reading Easter stories and talking a lot about how Jesus makes all things new.  We'll make handprint Easter lilies, Resurrection rolls, and hot cross buns.  In all these ways, (and hopefully even more, as I find new ideas for the coming weeks!) I want the Easter Alleluia to reverberate through our house.  Most of all, I want my kids to see the Easter miracle witnessed in the lives of T and me.  That's a tall order, one that can only be accomplished by a God who overcame sin and death.  Alleluia.