Frohe Ostern (Happy Easter - Part I)

“There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The baby Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.”

---President Gordon B Hinckley

We get so excited about the Easter season around here and really want to make sure it is a season that is anticipated, celebrated and remembered for the spiritual reasons. So, this year we introduced a few new traditions in hopes of realizing our goal (or at least coming a little bit closer). 

First, we began counting down to Easter beginning on Palm Sunday. Each day we would read a scripture then do a small activity (eg., make palm leaves) or watch a short video that corresponded with the scripture that day. It was simple and very successful. We all looked forward to each night's countdown time. 

There were a few days that were unique, in that we did a little bit more to commemorate them. The newest introduction this year was to put together a very simple Passover Dinner on Thursday night. Using the suggestions from an Easter Packet that we have we put together a Passover Seder Plate and went over all the symbols of the items on the plate. We did not venture too much into the script as the kids are still so young, but the Seder Plate went very well. We loved how much it incorporated about the Savior. It is a tradition that we are looking forward to repeating next year. 

(Unfortunately,  I managed to delete the most beautiful picture of Jason and Milayla sitting at the dinner table for Passover and despite Jason's best efforts we have been unable to retrieve it. So just imagine that right --->here<---. We do still have a dashing photo of Atticus though.)

Our dinner following the Seder Plate was supposed to be a bit of a treat consisting of baked salmon, white bean and artichoke salad and candied carrots, however, I need some serious lessons in cooking salmon (and in using our oven) and we all ate salmon in various stages of being overdone. Atticus had crispy salmon, I had tough salmon and Jason enjoyed dry salmon. So, I either failed miserably or discovered a new dish - Salmon Jerky anyone? Thankfully, we decided to do a little mix of traditions and purchased an Osterkranz for dessert and we all thoroughly enjoyed it probably mostly due to the fact that I did not have an opportunity to burn it in the oven. 

On Good Friday we enjoyed having Jason home (we love living in a country where it is a public holiday) and enjoyed a walk as soon as we noticed the sun was shining. Despite it being a bit cold we made the best of it by charting all the different colors of Easter eggs that the trees had been decorated with. Decorating trees with colored eggs is a German tradition to celebrate Easter and it sure brightens things up as Spring begins to arrive. For our activity we made handprint Lilies which was a fun craft that we all enjoyed. Jason was even impressed at the creativity of turning a hand into a lily. Atticus was so proud of our finished bouquet (which had one hand for each family member plus a white lily for the Savior - we did a small lesson accompanying this as well) that he wanted to put water in the glass to help them grow.

Love that cheeky camera smile of his, but sure adore it when those blue eyes are open in photos

Saturday brought the completion of a few projects around the home and plenty of errands (as we had a car rental). There was painting, measuring, cleaning and building. But before all of that, the kids received their Easter baskets.

Around here though, baskets need to be earned and the way that they did that was in finding a certain number of hidden items around the room. Jason was pleasantly surprised when he learned that he had an opportunity to find items and therefore earn a basket. Those boys could not wait to go hunting.

 Milayla even found a couple items and then waited patiently while watching the boys finish up.

Sweets are on a minimal around here, so the kids each got a book, puzzle and a car (Atticus also got a couple small treats). 

 Then, at the end of the day we all came together to make resurrection rolls. There is so much about the resurrection rolls that we are not particular fans of (too much processed food and sugar; if anyone has a nice, wholefood alternative please share!), but when it comes to finding an object lesson to really help toddlers understand what Easter is all about this certainly fits the bill. You can't go wrong with edible lessons.

We took our pure, white marshmallows, dipped them in oil and spices and then wrapped them in the dough before sealing them in the tomb all the while discussing the events of Jesus' life and death. Atticus was off to bed following our resurrection roll assembly and while he prepared for bed, he could not stop telling us all about Jesus being wrapped and laid in a tomb. He was so excited.

The plan was to bake them after Atticus went to bed so that he could discover the empty "tomb" on Easter morning. However, I am probably one of very few people who could botch baking something from a can. They exploded. And then they burned. I would clearly make a better chemist than a baker.

Thankfully, we were able to clear off the burned marshmallow and with a bit of scraping they were passible as edible.

A much anticipated Easter morning arrived. We began by watching a wonderful video about the resurrection of the Savior. We read scriptures. We shared our testimonies of the Savior. And we all sat down to breakfast together to enjoy those lovely resurrection rolls (thankfully they were not the only item for breakfast :). Then we prepared for church in a few new Easter items and headed off. Of course, we did not leave before taking a couple photos of those adorable kids of ours.

As you can see, that headband stayed on for a really long time ;)

Church was lovely. It is truly a blessing to be able to partake of the sacrament on Easter morning. He is risen! He lived and died for us. An incredible gift and sacrifice. We are so grateful for our Savior.