Simple Easter

We had a simple Easter this year.  The Easter bunny did find us, and he did hide some plastic filled eggs in our back garden but there were no new Easter dresses or fancy gifts.  we tried to focus all week on the Savior, his atonement, and resurrection . I got some great ideas here on Catherine's blog and on my sister Saren’s. 

I wish I could have pulled off doing all of their suggestions (they are simple and easy enough to do but I couldn’t quite get my act together).  We did read the scriptures each night and think about different aspects of Christ’s last week.  It wasn’t elaborate, but it felt Christ centered. 

On Thursday we went out to Amy’s and made some fun Easter baskets, died some eggs and then had a little mini Seder dinner.  I wish we’d have taken at least one picture….but it was a little too chaotic trying to eat and discuss all the symbolism while also keeping the kids happy and engaged and not silly.   We tried to follow this simple guide – truly not a real Seder dinner, but some little elements to help the kids understand Passover and a little of what the Last Supper might have been like. 

On Easter day we just relished the simple beauty of the day.  We ate Eggs Benedict for Brunch and then went into Knighton Wood, scriptures in hand, in search of signs of Christ as outlined in the “Easter Walk.”   I’m not sure if I did it right, but I liked what we did.  Each child hunted for things to fit the various descriptions and once everyone had found each thing we went through the clues and read the scriptures and talked about what each thing represented.  I had full intentions of making all of our little treasures/symbols into a centerpiece for the Easter table, but we ran out of time and had to head for our neighbors house (the Saltzman’s) for a delicious Easter Dinner (that I didn’t have to make, which made it even more delicious).  Maybe next year we’ll do the centerpiece because I think the Easter Walk is definitely going to make it into the Shumway family Easter traditions.

Here are a few pictures I did snap of our Easter egg hunt.  The kids were pretty delighted that the Easter Bunny did find them. 

too much candy?

I’m already excited for next Easter.  I’m going to send myself an email (do you know you can pre-date an email to yourself?) to arrive at the beginning of the Easter season with these links so that I can really prepare and get it even better, more focused on what really matters next year.