The runner-up was always Halloween, because dressing in a costume and getting to go door-to-door in the dark and receive candy always seemed pretty exciting, too.
Now, I'm not saying there's anything wrong with kids liking Christmas and Halloween, but I am going to tell you why Dan and I have decided to make Easter a big deal at our house.
When we look at what the different holidays are celebrating, Easter seems like the most important holiday to us. Christmas is great-- it's the day we celebrate Jesus' birth (despite the fact that it obviously isn't the day of his birth), which was a really important event. I loved the pageants at the church we went to when I was little. Christmas is a great holiday!
But because we believe in the Bible, Easter is a better holiday. When we celebrate Easter, we aren't celebrating spring, or bunnies, or eggs. We are celebrating Christ's resurrection. We believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross, taking our sins upon Himself so that we could be washed clean of those sins. But it wasn't just that He died. I mean, everyone dies, right? But on the 3rd day (the day we celebrate on Easter), Jesus rose from the grave. This was an event that was witnessed by hundreds of people, and even written about by secular historians of the time.
The birth of a baby is such an amazing event, and definitely worth celebrating. But the forgiveness of sins seems like such a bigger deal to us, and that's why we are choosing to make Easter a really big deal at our house.
How are we doing this?
- We are doing crafts for Easter, and talking about why we celebrate Easter. Miss Magoo, my 3 year old, showed her stained glass crosses to her grandma today. When Grandma R. asked if the cross was for Easter, Miss Magoo replied, "No, it's for getting to Heaven." There's a lot she's not understanding yet, but she gets the main idea.
- We are cooking special Easter-y foods and baking special treats. We are talking about how Jesus is the bread of life, and that when we come to Him and know Him as our Savior, He will nourish our souls. Maybe a bit too deep for the kids at this point, but they will begin to understand as we talk about these things year after year.
- We are buying presents for the kids, and I'm so excited for them to get them! We aren't getting out of control crazy (we aren't the type that get crazy at Christmas, either), but the presents we've gotten will be so much fun for the kids. We found a real mini-wheelbarrow. Not a cheesy one, but one that will actually last. We bought the kids a pair of gardening gloves each, and each one gets a folding camp chair. We spend a lot of time outdoors during the summer, and these will all get put to good use. And of course, we got a couple candies for each kid. In the week after Easter, we will talk about gifts, and how salvation is Christ's gift to each of us, if we only choose to receive it and follow Him. As the kids get older, we will also talk about how God gifts us with spiritual gifts.
- We will be doing Easter egg hunts with the kids. This is obviously a secular activity, but afterwards we will talk about the story of the lost sheep (Matthew 18:12-14), and how Christ cares just as much about finding those who are lost as the kids care about finding the Easter eggs.
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| This chart helps you and your family follow the story of the week leading up to Easter. To access the printable, click HERE |
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| This can be a fun activity for the family that you incorporate into your Easter egg hunt. For more information and a tutorial, click HERE |
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| For a tutorial on the stained glass crosses I talked about, click HERE |
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| These treats are made from peanut butter balls that are rolled in pretzels and cookies, and they are a fun treat to celebrate Christ's resurrection. For the recipe, click HERE |
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