Last week was one of those weeks where I felt like I was trying to chase the days....trying to catch up all week long. I had a lot of things I wanted to do with Aiden during this Holy Season and we did do a lot...they just didn't happen in the time I wanted them to. Now that I have a grasp of what I want to do, next year will be a bit more orderly. I didn't have time to do any reflection for myself, but I learned a lot just doing things with Aiden. Maybe sitting down with a cup of tea and having some quiet reflection during Easter will have to wait until this nest is empty. Here is the long and short, the successes and failures, and mostly the memories of our week.
Aiden was really into the Resurrection Eggs this year. And he really understood the symbols in each egg. Next year I'll be adding the book Benjamin's Box to this tradition. By the time I knew this book existed the bookstore had already sold out of them.
I made Resurection Rolls with Aiden this year. I didn't read this activity thoroughly before we did it and while making them I realized that Jesus' body was not rubbed in oils or spices as the activity would lead you to believe. So, I had to do some back tracking and reteaching with Aiden. Although these are yummy and turned out well, they just didn't make sense to me so this activity is not a repeat. This is also the one activity where Aiden's capability for symbolic thought fell a little short. If you are familiar with this activity you know that the marshmallow disappears and the roll is hallow symbolizing the empty tomb. Aiden kept saying, "But Mama! Where did the marshmallow go? Marshmallows don't rise again! And they have no legs to walk away! Only Jesus raises from the dead." With some explaining I think he finally got it.
How could we have Easter without dying eggs? As per Tom's tradition we did these Saturday night before Easter. This was too rushy for me so this activity is getting moved to Palm Sunday weekend. That way we can enjoy the eggs all week.
I had every intention of doing Resurrection Cookies with Aiden and sadly we ran out of time. Next year this is a must because I love these and they are so meaningful!
I did manage to recreate Jesus washing the disciples feet and The Last Supper which turned out pretty cool even though I did it on a whim (The scriptures I used for each day I got here). Next year my goal is to have a Seder Dinner. Even though Aiden will probably be too young, I know Tom and I will enjoy it. I haven't been to one of these since high school so I'm excited to go through the learning process again. In High School my mom and I even took dance lessons from a ceremonial dancer that used to dance in the Holy Lands during passover. Along with our friends we got to perform these dances at the Seder dinner and it was really cool.
Tom and I came close to retiring the Easter Bunny this year, but since he's such a cute little guy and because Aiden thinks it's so fun and magical, we just couldn't do it. I did read about a cool idea to make Easter baskets more meaningful so we adopted this tradition. We have to work out a few kinks, but I think it's a keeper. We had Aiden go outside to gather rocks. Then we read Ezekiel 26:36 about rocks in our hearts. We wrote our sins on the rocks...Aiden came up with things like coloring on the table and not staying in bed. :) We put the "sins" in his Easter basket that he had laid out for the bunny. Then we covered the baskets with a red cloth to symbolize Jesus' blood. Next, we went to bed. In the morning we found this:
(see the bunny track on Aiden's head?) :)
The Easter Bunny had visited! He left a bunny trail and dropped some treats too. In fact, the evidence showed that he had even hopped around in Aiden and Sage's beds. The Easter bunny had then taken the rocks and put them in a basket labeled "Jesus" and filled Aiden's basket (and Sage's) with treats. This symbolizes that Jesus took our sin upon himself, washed us with his blood, and filled our hearts with good things.
We went to church on Sunday morning and then had Easter dinner with Tom's brother and family. Aiden and his cousins had an Easter egg hunt (as if they didn't have enough candy already) and sadly I didn't take any pictures.
As you can see, we had a wonderful week reflecting on the sacrifice of our Lord (I think Aiden might know the story of the resurrection better than I do!). Our hearts overflow with joy that we celebrate a risen Savior! Happy Easter from all of us!
Aiden was really into the Resurrection Eggs this year. And he really understood the symbols in each egg. Next year I'll be adding the book Benjamin's Box to this tradition. By the time I knew this book existed the bookstore had already sold out of them.
I made Resurection Rolls with Aiden this year. I didn't read this activity thoroughly before we did it and while making them I realized that Jesus' body was not rubbed in oils or spices as the activity would lead you to believe. So, I had to do some back tracking and reteaching with Aiden. Although these are yummy and turned out well, they just didn't make sense to me so this activity is not a repeat. This is also the one activity where Aiden's capability for symbolic thought fell a little short. If you are familiar with this activity you know that the marshmallow disappears and the roll is hallow symbolizing the empty tomb. Aiden kept saying, "But Mama! Where did the marshmallow go? Marshmallows don't rise again! And they have no legs to walk away! Only Jesus raises from the dead." With some explaining I think he finally got it.
How could we have Easter without dying eggs? As per Tom's tradition we did these Saturday night before Easter. This was too rushy for me so this activity is getting moved to Palm Sunday weekend. That way we can enjoy the eggs all week.
I had every intention of doing Resurrection Cookies with Aiden and sadly we ran out of time. Next year this is a must because I love these and they are so meaningful!
I did manage to recreate Jesus washing the disciples feet and The Last Supper which turned out pretty cool even though I did it on a whim (The scriptures I used for each day I got here). Next year my goal is to have a Seder Dinner. Even though Aiden will probably be too young, I know Tom and I will enjoy it. I haven't been to one of these since high school so I'm excited to go through the learning process again. In High School my mom and I even took dance lessons from a ceremonial dancer that used to dance in the Holy Lands during passover. Along with our friends we got to perform these dances at the Seder dinner and it was really cool.
Tom and I came close to retiring the Easter Bunny this year, but since he's such a cute little guy and because Aiden thinks it's so fun and magical, we just couldn't do it. I did read about a cool idea to make Easter baskets more meaningful so we adopted this tradition. We have to work out a few kinks, but I think it's a keeper. We had Aiden go outside to gather rocks. Then we read Ezekiel 26:36 about rocks in our hearts. We wrote our sins on the rocks...Aiden came up with things like coloring on the table and not staying in bed. :) We put the "sins" in his Easter basket that he had laid out for the bunny. Then we covered the baskets with a red cloth to symbolize Jesus' blood. Next, we went to bed. In the morning we found this:
(see the bunny track on Aiden's head?) :)
The Easter Bunny had visited! He left a bunny trail and dropped some treats too. In fact, the evidence showed that he had even hopped around in Aiden and Sage's beds. The Easter bunny had then taken the rocks and put them in a basket labeled "Jesus" and filled Aiden's basket (and Sage's) with treats. This symbolizes that Jesus took our sin upon himself, washed us with his blood, and filled our hearts with good things.
We went to church on Sunday morning and then had Easter dinner with Tom's brother and family. Aiden and his cousins had an Easter egg hunt (as if they didn't have enough candy already) and sadly I didn't take any pictures.
As you can see, we had a wonderful week reflecting on the sacrifice of our Lord (I think Aiden might know the story of the resurrection better than I do!). Our hearts overflow with joy that we celebrate a risen Savior! Happy Easter from all of us!
Comments