Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday was a much calmer day after the happy chaos of Saturday and its egg hunts. We do it that way on purpose...so as to focus on the real meaning of Easter.

Back story: When Easter rolled around during Bryan's and my first year of marriage, I had all sorts of plans to fill an Easter basket for him. Candy, a book, a CD, a new video...just some fun little gifts. At the time, I was working at The Book Table which had a custom framing shop in the upstairs portion of the store. The more I thought about my upcoming plans for Easter, the more I realized that maybe I was going about it all wrong. We were living in a new apartment and still little by little trying to decorate...we didn't yet have a nice picture of Jesus Christ to hang in our home. So instead of picking out a bunch of odds and end unimportant sorts of things, I climbed the stairs to the framing department and had a talk with my co-worker. He helped me pick out a picture, a mat and a frame and then he put it all together for me. General Conference was on Easter that year. I still have very fond and tender memories of giving Bryan that picture (which he LOVED) and then cuddling up on the couch to watch conference together. That picture has followed us through 17 years of marriage and many moves and hangs on the wall in the hallway just outside our bedroom today.

That first Easter experience was a decision making one for us. We decided that we wouldn't teach our kids about the Easter Bunny. That we would make sure that any kind of egg hunt part of the Easter holiday would be on Saturday. And that what they would find in their baskets on Sunday morning would be church related. For example, years past have included new scriptures, CTR rings, their favorite scriptures in vinyl lettering to hang on their walls.

So Easter morning was calm at our house.




In the past Easter Sunday also meant fancy, new church clothes. The older kids don't care so much about that anymore so Lilian was the only one with a traditional "Easter dress." (She had a pretty little white sweater on as well but shrugged it off after church and refused to put it back on for pictures....)

After our big Easter dinner, we colored Easter eggs together as a family. I am proud to announce that Lilian did not crack a single egg...although she did spill the dye a few more times than I would've liked. While the kids were meticulously working on their eggs, I read them a talk about the Easter story. And while I was a little frustrated at times when outbursts such as "Hey!! That's the color I was going to use!" or "Don't touch my eggs!" would occur while I was in the middle of trying to explain something...all in all, I think they were listening judging from the questions they asked.

My favorite part of the talk (from my Dad) that I read to the kids...

"Unlike the words of the Christmas story, the words that we read at Easter are often hard and foreboding and violent and heartbreaking But in the end, the words of the Easter story are the words that make the Christmas story important. Because the words of the Easter story tell us that the baby of Bethlehem really was the King of the Jews, the Son of God, and the Savior of the World. And, in the end, the words of the Easter story may be the most joyful of all because they tell us that when the women arrived at the tomb, the stone was rolled away and the tomb was empty. As the women looked about frantically, an angel appeared to them and said, 'Fear not ye, for I know that ye seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.'" (Matt 28:5-6).

Overall, it was such a great day and I was spiritually renewed. How amazed and thankful I am for my Savior's sacrifice and oh, how I hope I never take it for granted!