We are attempting a bloodless coup rather than outright revolution, but the effect will hopefully be the same. This year, we are trying to make Easter more about Christ than candy and the Easter Bunny.
Which isn't to say that we think that the Easter Bunny is a bad thing. But that Easter has always been a problematic holiday. With the Easter Bunny, it is a holiday centered around eggs (to which Josh is allergic) and candy (mostly chocolate and to which Josh is also allergic). So, we use plastic eggs filled with candy or toys, but I am not a huge fan of huge amounts of candy and there are only so many tiny toys that fit in eggs.
So, with Josh turning 7 this year, it seemed as good a time as ever to redirect our focus to Christ for this holiday season. I got this great book, A Christ-Centered Easter by Janet and Joe Hales, and started my preparations.
That being said, one thing one should never, ever forget when dealing with three boys is that nothing will work out as planned. I should probably get that framed and put up on my wall.
So, here's how it has gone so far:
Sunday: We reenacted Christ's entering Jerusalem on a donkey (Jason) with palm leaves (tissue paper taped to popsicle sticks. The boys loved riding on Jason's back and then chasing each other/whacking each other with the "palm leaves."
Monday: We used 12 plastic eggs filled with different items (bread, nail, rope etc) to tell the story of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. When we got to the egg containing a piece of white cloth symbolic of the cloth Christ's body was wrapped in, Ben took it out of the egg and started patting his side with it. Jason busted out laughing. I did too when he let me in on the joke - Ben thought it was toilet paper!
Tuesday: This is our busy night with t-ball and chorale, so we skipped that night as we ran out of time.
Wednesday: We read some of the parables Jesus used to teach during his ministry. In a stellar teaching moment, I used pirate coins to illustrate the story of the widow's mite. We also used clay to make our own lamps like those of the 10 virgins. Jason bought one during his time in the Middle East and the boys were very excited to see the "real" thing.
Thursday: We read about the Last Supper and discussed the Passover and seder. We had a plate of the foods for the kids to touch, smell and, for the more adventurous, taste. I use the term "adventurous" liberally as I don't think that chicken, egg, lettuce, celery and nuts/raisin mix are really exotic foods, but mostly the kids just looked and touched. Really, the kids were just excited to drink grape juice and eat crackers.
Friday: We read about the crucifixion and watched the video Finding Faith in Christ. Note to self: Even church produced movies about religious topics should be previewed. I think it was fine, but Josh looked very disturbed during some of the scenes. We had a fun activity planned, but we had some issues at dinner that ended in some activities being cancelled for the evening.
So, it is a work in progress and half the time my plans don't work as planned. We have two more days to go and years to work on the process, but hopefully each year we can teach and learn more about Christ with our children.
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