Annual Easter Brunch

Over the last few years, I have been challenged to celebrate Easter with the same gusto as I give to Christmas. Let's be honest, with its seasonal radio carols, booming decorating industry, and multi-million dollar shopping frenzy, it's easy to make Christ's birth into a month-long festival. Even non-Christians throw their own rendition of a birthday palooza each Christmas morning.

But Easter? For whatever reason, Christ's victorious defeat over sin and death tends to be relegated to the purchase of a new spring dress or tie, the placement of an orchid bouquet on the dining room table, and the obligatory hour of annual church attendance.

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Why? Why is Christ's BIRTH so easy to celebrate while His RESURRECTION is marked by a few habitual Christian rituals? Is one more important than the other? Obviously not. And yet, our actions...or rather...lack of action shows that we believe differently.

Although I am faaaaaar from giving Christ's resurrection its due celebration, I have determined to establish some Ebinezers of God's wonderful gift of sacrificial love and redeem a day that has been stolen by the Easter Bunny and the 40% off dress sales.

In addition to learning about Christ's Journey to the Cross, one of the ways we have set Easter Sunday apart in our home is by having most of our "commercial" traditions on the Saturday before Easter. This allows us to continue some treasured family traditions that in-and-of themselves are not bad, but tend to take the focus off of the reason for Resurrection Sunday.

Just as we have never introduced Santa Claus at Christmas, we have never mentioned the Easter Bunny to our children. We want the FACE of their celebration to be that of Christ. That being said, we do mark the Christmas season with some "non-religious" activities like decorating a tree, making gingerbread houses, and baking cookies. With similar conviction, we celebrate Easter with some family fun in hopes of making a SEASON of remembrance and celebration and not just a day.

The Saturday before Easter usually finds us hosting a mid-morning Easter Brunch. The children help me prepare the food, set the table, and welcome extended family for a morning of food, games, and crafts.

Typical Easter Brunch Agenda

• We begin by passing out Resurrection Eggs to retell the story of Christ's redemptive work on the cross. 
• We enjoy a light brunch. 
• We decorate Easter eggs using many different mediums. (One of our recent favorites was to collage them using scraps of colorful tissue paper and Elmer's glue painted on with a paintbrush.) 
• We read a fun picture-book account of the Easter story. My two current favorites are The Tale of Three Trees and Benjamin's Box. 
• We have a scavenger hunt or follow a sping-themed trail to find Easter baskets. (This particular year, I cut out turtle tracks from green construction paper. The children had to follow the tracks to find their baskets.) 
• We complete an Easter craft. (Our collaged eggs nestled nicely in these paper lunch sack nests. To make a nest, see directions below.) 
• We have an Easter egg hunt. (The Hubs is usually in charge of hiding all the eggs...inside or outside depending upon the snow or lack thereof...while I help the kids with the craft.) 

To Make a Paper Bag Nest

You will need:

a paper lunch sack
scissors
grass or craft grass

1. Cut the top half of the lunch sack off and discard. 
2. Open the remaining portion and fold the sides down so that they touch the bottom of the sack. (The sides of the sack might rip as you fold it down. That's OK!) 
3. Crinkle the sides and form into a "messy" oval or circle shape. 
4. Fill the "nest" with grass.