Easter: Tradition Auditions

I adore the way we celebrate Christmas. We've been very thoughtful over the past few years to keep the focus on Christ and create traditions that reinforce the true meaning while still keeping the magic and fun of the season. It makes December such a joyful month filled with the Spirit and I want that same feeling for Easter! After all, as President Hinkley said, "There would be no Christmas if there were no Easter." So I'm trying to find the best ways to observe the holiday and emphasize its magnitude but it'd definitely a work in progress. Here are some things we tried out this year:

1. Participate in sacred ordinances: My sweet and spunky niece Claire was baptized the Saturday before Palm Sunday and it was such a sweet way to begin our Easter worship.

2. Backwards Egg Hunt: Evan and I created this for his very first seminary class when he was a student teacher and this tradition is for sure a keeper. Instead of hunting for the eggs, we hand out the eggs and each one has a symbol inside ( an olive, a drop of blood, a candle etc.) and you "hunt" for a scripture that relates your symbol to Christ and share it with everyone. Perfect for FHE!

Don't stress, we did a traditional egg hunt too.

3. Listen to testimonies of Christ: BYU does an Easter Conference every year which Evan and I got to attend and learned from some amazing scholars about The Love of Christ. One thing I wrote down was to think of the word "Easter" as it comes from "East" or the rising of the sun....which is also the Rising of The Son. Beautiful. General Conference also happened to fall on Easter this year so we heard so many powerful testimonies of Christ that day.

4.Easter Basket goodies: This tradition is a Marilyn Fox special. Our Easter bunny brings church clothes, toys, and books (and candy of course!). I am obsessed with these "Who's Your Hero?" books the Easter Bunny brought Winston, they are scripture stories illustrated and applied to children and he really relates to them and learns so much (this is his third volume)! They are awesome.

5. Easter Music: One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the music so I wanted to recreate that feeling with Easter music. Not quite as much to choose from but here is our favorite album: Redeemer by the Nashville Tribute Band, each song is written from the perspective of a different person in the New Testament (John the Baptist, Mary, Peter, etc.)

I also attempted to dye eggs with Winston and he could not have cared less. He asked if we could go outside and play baseball instead ha! 

 

Other than that we spent a lot of time with family and that I do believe is a great way to worship. Look at all these cousins!

Do you have any great Easter traditions? Fill me in.