Yes! It was Finally Easter!

“Is it Easter yet?”

I must’ve heard this question a hundred times over the past month. There’s a rule at our house that no one goes outside without shoes until after Easter.  

Did I mention that my kids are all half Southern? Running around barefoot is something that is in their blood, apparently. They would NEVER put shoes on if they had their way.

Anyway, they’ve been counting down the days. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy on Easter Sunday so I had to make some rule revisions. These were not accepted with any degree of enthusiasm, as you can imagine.

Luckily, we had other things to keep us occupied. As a Christian family, we like to not only go to church on Easter Sunday, but also talk about the life of Christ throughout the month leading up to Easter.

This year, we had a fantastic opportunity to participate in a Passover Seder meal with some friends of ours who are also Christian but have a Jewish heritage. It was the first time any of us had ever attended one of these celebrations, and it ended up being an amazing experience that I don’t think we will ever forget. If I get any of this wrong, please forgive me – I am not Jewish, though I sometimes wish that I were!

When we arrived, my girls decided that they wanted to wear head-coverings over their hair like our hosts were wearing. They had lots of extra scarves, so we all joined in.

Next, we learned all about Jewish prayer shawls and the little fringes on their corners called “tzitzits.” In the Torah, God told Moses to tell the Israelites, “Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD….” So it seems that the original intent behind the fringed garment was to serve as a reminder of God’s commandments to the Israelites.

Then, we read about Jesus and his final Passover meal and how he told his disciples that they should be servants to one another. Then, he washed their feet. So we did the same thing! I surprised myself by tearing up as I watched my oldest daughter “serving” her little sister by washing her little feet. (Of course, my four-year-old and her two-year-old brother had to get in on the action, too.)

Later, we went to the beautifully set table and learned all kinds of things about the foods used in the Seder meal – the striped and pierced matzos (by Jesus’ stripes we are healed, his side was pierced on the cross) the saltwater (the tears the Israelites cried while they were slaves), ten drops of wine on a plate (the ten plagues on Egypt), bitter herbs (the bitterness of slavery), the haroset (the mortar used by the slaves to build the pyramids) the lamb (Jesus was the Lamb of God) and lots of other things. My kids were enthralled with the candles, the wine glasses, the horseradish (well, Josie was the only one who liked that particular part) and all of the symbolism.

It was fascinating.

Back at our house on the night before Easter, we made “Resurrection Rolls,” which are a simple way of telling the story of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection. You take a marshmallow (representing Jesus because it’s white and “pure”) and dip it in melted butter (the oil he was anointed with) and cinnamon sugar (the spices he was embalmed with) and then you wrap it up in dough, which represents the linen cloth he was buried in. Next, you put him in the tomb (aka the pre-heated oven) and read the Easter story from the Bible. When you take the rolls out ten minutes later and crack open the tomb, “Voila!” Jesus has disappeared!

Or as my (somewhat-unintentionally-sacrilegious) 4-year-old said, “Hey! I think Jesus has melted!”

Anyway, the project is a great visual… and it’s also delicious.

Yes, it may have been too cold for a barefoot egg hunt, but I think my girls will remember this Easter anyway. Where Passover came from, what it means, the empty tomb… and how we believe that Jesus fits in to the whole beautiful story.

The meaning of this holiday, especially for me, means a lot more than just the arrival of spring and colored eggs.

I hope you and your family had a great holiday as well, no matter how you celebrated.