Easter was extra meaningful this year, and I don’t think it entirely had to do with sharing it with our sweet little girl. (Although getting to surprise her with her Easter basket and dress her up in her Sunday best didn’t hurt one bit!) I read through N.T. Wright’s Lent for Everyone every day during Lent along with my moms’ group at church, and not only was it the highlight of my mornings, but it had a huge effect on the impact of our celebrations yesterday. The process of walking daily through the Lenten season and reflecting on each Biblical story leading up to Good Friday and the resurrection provided a context and a depth that made the joy of Easter so much sweeter.
Our Easter Traditions
We also spent this year establishing and documenting some new traditions for our family. This is so important to me so that we can establish a family culture that gives Victoria a sense of belonging and consistency that helps her know she is loved and that her contributions are important. I also hope this helps establish who we are as a family so that she can be confident in that identity when the world offers her many choices. Some lofty goals for an Easter morning ritual, but that’s the heart behind my obsessive note-taking on what we’ve “traditionally” done for each holiday.
Friday: We went to Good Friday service like we always do, but Friday evening I also read the Good Friday story to Victoria from the Jesus Storybook Bible before bed, and I teared up something serious. Telling the Gospel to a little one who has never heard it brings it to life in a whole new way.
Saturday: This year she wasn’t quite old enough, but I’ve also planned for future years to include dyeing eggs and making resurrection rolls on Easter Saturday. This year, we spent Saturday working on things around the house, and running errands/eating dinner out as a family, which is all I need to call it a great weekend!
Sunday: But of course, Sunday was the best day! A note at the outset: our church meets at 5pm. That said, I think we’ve established our Easter morning traditions, which are a combination of secular/commercial and sacred celebrations. We started with giving Victoria her Easter basket (because I’m not going to make a kid sit through breakfast or the Easter story before seeing what the Easter Bunny brought). Then, in future years, I would love to have an egg hunt around our house followed by eating the resurrection rolls while Will reads the Easter morning story from the Jesus Storybook Bible (Can you tell I love it?). We did read the story this year, and she seemed to be listening!
Then, Victoria went down for her morning nap while we got ready for brunch, and the timing all worked out perfectly. We got to play with her while she was up in the middle of the day, and then she was able to greet our friends and go down for her afternoon nap right around when we sat down to eat. I was actually able to finish eating before she was up again to get ready for church!
We had what is now our traditional Easter brunch menu, starting with a salad by our friend Leslie and mimosas, and then honeybaked ham, quiche, asparagus, fruit salad, and cinnamon rolls.
Miss V started crying right about the time I was finishing my dessert, which was perfect! So I fed her and put her in her Easter dress (made by my mom!) for photos, of course. Here she is with her buddy Theodore, and are they not the cutest pair?
We nixed the gold shoes in favor of some white ones that stay on better. 🙂
Her Easter basket was a huge hit, especially the books and the shakin’ eggs!
Baby Girl loves to read!
It’s so surreal but she looks just like a baby doll I had when I was little in this photo.
Poor Theo. I have to give this girl manicures all the time, because she loves to scratch. 🙁
Mom, I’m BUSY.
We’re so thankful for these friends who are more like family!!
We had a wonderful celebration at church and then came home and topped the day off with watching the live Jesus Christ Superstar on NBC. My inner musical theater nerd was pretty thrilled. I was in a production of JCS at the Muny in high school, and I loved the music then and I still love it now. But wow I think I forgot that it just ends with Jesus dying. It was so striking and made me even more thankful that the real Easter story didn’t end there. (And really, even just for the musical’s story arc, what a terrible ending! Come on, Andrew Lloyd Webber!)
Anyway, in real life, alleluia! He is risen, friends! I hope you had the best weekend!
