Lest you think from all my Easter crafts that we are complete heathens who just care about the competition of egg hunts and biting the heads off chocolate bunnies, here are links to a few of the meaningful preparations we do for Easter. I could do tutorials of my own, but since someone else already did, why not give them the credit for being inspiring?
Resurrection Eggs are a favorite every year at our house. My mom gave me the instructions for making these back before I even had kids, and I made them for friends and such. This is a great visual aid to reinforce the story of Easter, for kids and adults alike. The 12 day countdown starts today, so you still have time…I bet you have all the supplies right in your home already!
Resurrection Cookies are another great (and tasty) way to visually experience the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. They’re a meringue cookie that has various ingredients symbolic of parts of the Easter story, and are left in the oven overnight to finish…then the inside is empty, as was the tomb. So make these the night before Easter, since they sit overnight.
My sister-in-law taught me years ago about the tradition of Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday. The icing cross on top reminds us of the crucifixion and Jesus. In past years, I’ve used a mix from King Arthur Flour that is delicious, but this year I’m making them from scratch, although still from a King Arthur recipe.
As with so many Christian traditions, hot cross buns can be traced to a pagan celebration that was replaced with a Christian one as Christianity spread. The four quadrants the icing creates represent the four seasons and the goddess Eostre. Really. I looked it up on Wikipedia. No, I’m joking. I did actual research.
Our eldest child is making his First Communion at the end of April, so this is an especially meaningful Lenten and Easter season for us. I’m sure his religious ed teacher thinks we’ve taught him nothing, as he comes home from class amazed each week. Hopefully she realizes that it’s a case of him finally believing when any adult other than his parents tell him things. He continues to think we’re not too bright and lucky to have him to teach us stuff.
Last night he told me about the soldier forcing Jesus to take the sponge soaked in wine (vinegar is the way I learned it growing up) and he was surprised I knew about it already. Oh, well, if it makes him happy to “discover” this, it makes me happy, too! I may have to start acting like a dumb blonde, so he can educate me.
We do the Resurrection Eggs and Hot Cross Buns, too. Definitely going to try the Empty Tomb Cookies this year. (Before I realized there are cool tutorials out there, I bought my Resurrection Eggs through Amazon. I was in Hobby Lobby yesterday and saw them there as well. They weren’t marked with a price though.)
Oh, I didn’t even go down the Easter aisle at Hobby Lobby…but it’s good to know you can get them there! The cookies are really tasty, too, as well as educational…hope the kids enjoy making them.
What wonderful traditions to teach the kids about Jesus! And such a cute story about No. 1. I only have problems with the dumb blonde thing. I can picture you doing just about anything, except dumb!
By the way, I’ve noticed I’m not getting emails anymore when you post. Don’t know what that means or if its important, just thought I’d mention it. I have to check your blog manually (horrors!). Not really a problem, but if your stats fall, that might be why?
It’s not pretty, when I force myself to do the dumb blonde thing…it tends to make me grumpy. ;0) I don’t know what’s up with the email thing…I checked through all the settings and can’t figure it out. I need to actually devote some time to figuring out this blog thing!