Denise M. is the winner of this giveaway– CONGRATS!
Now that Spring is finally here (even if it doesn’t quite feel like it in some parts of the country), we begin to see signs of new life all around us. The budding trees and greening grass also remind me that Easter will soon be here. Easter– Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection– is the only reason that WE have new life. Out of all the lessons that we teach our children, this is the most important!
Two of my favorite resources in sharing the gospel message with my children (and their friends) are Resurrection Eggs and a wonderful book called The Tale of Three Trees.
Easter comes alive in children’s hands with the memorable objects inside each of the twelve colorful plastic eggs. The different memory-grabbing objects take Jesus’ journey to the cross and beyond right into children’s hearts. Now with a revised bilingual booklet in simple language, discover how the anticipation, surprise, and experience of Resurrection Eggs® has brought the truth of Easter to children around the globe.
Once upon a mountaintop, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up… So begins this enchanting American folktale about three trees whose wishes come true in a surprising way.
To help you share the truth of Easter with your family, we would like to give away one set of Resurrection Eggs and the book The Tale of Three Trees (hardback). To enter, leave a comment telling us about one of your family Easter traditions– be it serious or silly, current or from way-back-when! Contest will close at 10pm on Wednesday, April 1st.
We don’t really have any Easter traditions at our house. With my husband’s work schedule, we never know if he’ll be home or even if we’ll be home instead of visiting with family. The only thing that we are sure to do every year is go to church. I can’t think of a better place to celebrate Jesus’ great sacrifice and wondrous resurrection than God’s house!
Marsha is proud to be the Mrs. to David for over 12 years. They have been homeschooling their rowdy boys in the Lone Star State for over 5 years. When she’s feeling like a slacker, you can find her drinking coffee, reading a book and writing at her blog — and sometimes all at the same time! You can find Marsha at Our Homeschool and Other Such Happenings.
We have a tradition of making resurrection cookies. I was amazed at what an impact the story had on me, much less my kids. For example, when we beat the nuts and are reminded of Jesus being beaten, I shudder and am in awe of the love He has for us.
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Marsha Reply:
March 24th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Do you have a good recipe for those cookies, Sheila? I tried them once but they weren’t very tasty. It would be nice to have meaningful and delicious– but if I had to pick just one, I’d go for meaningful!
Marsha’s last blog post..A Woman Inspired Conference
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Our girls are still a bit young so we have just begun to start traditions. I would love to add Resurrection Eggs to that.
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We’re still trying to figure out meaningful traditions. Fresh flowers would be one. And Empty tomb cookies or rolls – I’m looking for a recipe for these.
Mozi Esme’s Mommy’s last blog post..Not Me! Monday
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Growing up my stepdads catholic mother would hide eggs for all the kids and eggs for the adults. The adults would get cash in their eggs and bottles of wine. well not in the eggs but if you got the golden egg you got the bottle of wine. I remember thinking it was cool that the adults got to play too.
Susan’s last blog post..What’s in a name–Part two
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My kids are 5 and 7 now and we would totally love to graduate up to the dozen Resurrection Eggs. In the past, when they were toddlers and preschoolers, we used to read a board book called “The Colors of my Easter Basket.” It was shaped like a basket and told the Easter story starting with Palm Sunday and a green egg, ending with a yellow egg and the sun rising on Easter morning. There were a total of 6 colors, easier for them to remember. I ended up buying plastic colored eggs that matched the ones in the book, and filled them with small plastic/wooden items that matched. Mini-palm tree for green, Palm Sunday. Plastic purple grapes for Last Supper. Yellow wooden sun, Easter morning. We’d read the story, hide the eggs around the house once a day all Holy Week to set their minds on the real meaning of Easter.
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As we approach the Easter season, we spend lots of time talking about Jesus and how He died & rose again to save us from our sins. My kids, 8 1/2, 5 1/2 & 3 1/2 love to act out the story of Jesus too. They love going to church on Easter Sunday & hearing the Easter Story. Then we go to my Aunt’s to spend time with family & have an Easter hunt.
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A recipe for Resurrection cookies would be great! After skimming about that in one of the other comments, I thought of biscuits that can be made with a marshmallow inside them. I think you can use any kind of biscuit w/ the “normal” size (not miniature) marshmallows. Just place one inside each biscuit, and there’s a hole (an empty tomb) when they come out of the oven. (At least I think that’s how it works. — LOL)
Traditions… not really any major traditions for Easter… other than going to church to celebrate our risen Lord! We make sure and put the emphasis on Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection — not on Easter candy.
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For the past few years we’ve taken part in the sunrise breakfast at church and then spent Easter dinner with friends after the morning service.
Lisa V.’s last blog post..Word-Filled Wednesday – Flower
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It seems that the tradition that has stuck since we have lived within driving distance of my parents is an egg hunt. My mom loves to dye the eggs with the kids. When my dad was still alive he would take the first round of hiding the eggs. Now, the three teenagers have taken over. It is nice to see the next generation take something over that my dad loved to do for them.
Of course, there is always church in the morning with our new Easter clothes on.
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Our kids are 5, 3 1/2, 2 and 7 weeks. Last year we did “celebrate” the “Holy week” – we build an easter mountain out of play dough (with a grave cave, cross and so on) and played every day a little bit of all the events from Palmsunday to the resurrection on easter morning. It was exiting for the kids, and I loved that it’s not just the candy on easter morning, but a whole week reflection. What are resurrection eggs?
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Sara Reply:
April 8th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I heard about the grave cave craft- always wanted to do it- but can’t find the instructions. could you post them or email me with them?
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Our kids are 10, 7, 5, and 3. We celebrate Easter each year by having a treasure hunt using different Bible verses for each clue.For example, “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” They would find the next clue on one of the lamps. We just use the references so that the older ones can look the verses up in the Bible, and they help the younger ones to figure what the clue word is. We put their Easter baskets at the last clue word(about 10 clues later). We try to find a chocolate cross rather than Easter bunnies so that we can remember the real meaning of Easter.
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When I was growing up my mom would make Hot-Cross Buns on Easter morning. They’re a simple sweet roll with a drizzle of icing in the shape of a cross on top. She would wake us with the smell of the buns and a joyful greeting of, “He is risen!” To this greeting we would reply, “He is indeed!” and she would give us a bun.
Thanks for including me in your drawing.
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When I was growing up my mother would hide our Easter basket that was filled with goodies in unusual places and leave clues (scavenger hunt style) all around for us to find it. I continued that tradition with my kids for several years until I realized the focus wasn’t as much on Jesus as it needed to be…
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We are making new traditions with our family…but I do remember while growing up, we would get up early and to have church service outside. It was beautiful watching the sun rise and celebrating the the risen Saviour. We would eat breakfast together and make a day out of it by hiding and finding easter eggs and spending time with our huge extended family because we all lived near one another.
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We are a ministry family, so Easter is always very hectic. As far as traditions go…I’m not even sure what I’m serving for Easter lunch:) Last year, we did get each child a small gift and related it to the gift of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. I’m sure our children would LOVE for the gifts to continue to be a tradition:)
Nikki’s last blog post..Menu Planning Monday ~ March 23rd
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We like to give Easter baskets with goodies. We enjoy hiding eggs for our children to find. I usually imply that Easter is more of a Spring holiday than that of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And the same for Christmas. (Santa and Jesus) lol
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As a child I used to get an Easter basket every year. Call me a party pooper, but we don’t do that for our own children. We don’t want the Truth of Easter getting lost in all the “other stuff”. They don’t seem to mind. Church still does an Easter egg hunt every year that we allow them to participate in. But through everything we always be sure to remind our children what Easter is for. Technically, only my daughter (6) is old enough to grasp some of this concept. However, we still talk about the death and resurrection with our younger chilren as well. Without it, there’d be no Easter.
Christin’s last blog post..Asking for Prayer
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I’d like to celebrate a seder dinner, get together with family, and think about how Jesus became our passover lamb…
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We don’t really have any Easter traditions at our house. After church we let our kids have an Easter egg hunt outside. We let them watch Miss Pattycake’s Eggstravaganza DVD (which is how I learned about Resurrection Eggs) sometime during the day. For the most part, we just enjoy being together as a family.
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Growing up, “The Easter Bunny” used to put a jar or bag of salted, hulled sunflower seeds in our basket, just so we’d have something “healthy” in there among all the candy. I still continue this tradition with my own kids!
Thanks for the chance.
Megret
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So far since my children are still young we hide eggs, I put in nutritional snacks but this year we will be going to the local church so the kids can learn about the Resurrection and the true meaning!
Kristinia’s last blog post..Irreplaceable by Stephen Lovely – Review
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I take my kids to Easter in The Park every year.They set up like a little mini carnival thing there with a raffle to the easter egg hunt.Only 5 kids are allowed into it at one time and thy find eggs and keep them, then more kids go in.At the end of it they call a number, who ever has the plastic egg with the number wins the prize which is usually a bycicle.Then they have the parade.Lot’s of fun for them.
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When my girls were little we made Resurrection Cookies
EASTER STORY COOKIES
1 cup whole pecans Ziploc baggie
1 tsp. vinegar wooden spoon
3 egg whites masking tape
pinch salt Bible
1 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place pecans in zipper baggie and let children beat them with the wooden spoon to break into small pieces. Explain that after Jesus was arrested he was beaten by the Roman soldiers. Read John 19:1-3.
Let each child smell the vinegar. Put 1 tsp. vinegar into mixing bowl. Explain that when Jesus was thirsty on the cross he was given vinegar to drink. Read John 19:28-30.
Add egg whites to vinegar. Eggs represent life. Explain that Jesus gave His life to give us life. Read John 10:10-11.
Sprinkle a little salt into each child’s hand. Let them taste it and brush the rest into the bowl. Explain that this represents the salty tears shed by Jesus’ followers, and the bitterness of our own sin. Read Luke 23:27.
So far the ingredients are not very appetizing. Add 1 cup sugar. Explain that the sweetest part of the story is that Jesus died because He loves us. He wants us to know and belong to Him. Read Psm. 34:8 and John 3:16.
Beat with a mixer on high speed for 12 to 15 minutes until stiff peaks are formed. Explain that the color white represents the purity in God’s eyes of those whose sins have been cleansed by Jesus. Read Isa.1:18 & John 3:1-3.
Fold in broken nuts. Drop by teaspoons onto wax paper covered cookie sheet. Explain that each mound represents the rocky tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Read Matt. 27:57-60.
Put the cookie sheet in the oven, close the door and turn the oven OFF. Give each child a piece of masking tape and seal the oven door. GO TO BED! Explain that they may feel sad to leave the cookies in the oven overnight. Jesus’ followers were in despair when the tomb was sealed. Read John 16:20& 22.
On Easter morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. Notice the cracked surface and take a bite. The cookies are hollow! On the first Easter Jesus’ followers were amazed to find the tomb open and empty. Read Matt.28:1-9. HE HAS RISEN!
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We always go to church. We always dress up. We always hunt eggs. Sometimes we have an egg hunting party. And I found the coolest storybook we’re adding this year “The Legend of the Easter Egg” (It may make you cry, be warned)
Farm Fresh Jessica’s last blog post..Handy Hacks
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We hide plastic eggs with money. Then we use the money to buy a gift for foster children. The kids love seeing who can buy more. (We help out if 1 of them doesn’t find enuff.)
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Our house is the family gathering place for many holidays. Easter is always a special family time, with a little fun for the kids thrown in.
rsgrandinetti(at)yahoo(dot)com
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We have a big Easter hunt! We make Easter baskets for the kids! That is something we have done since I was little!
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Even as an adult, I still make Easter baskets for family and friends. It has become a family tradition – and it is a lot of fun!
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What a fun giveaway! As for an Easter tradition, we always make “White Cookies” It is a wonderful recipe that has been in my husbands family since his grandma (92) was a child! It is a cookie cut out dough. You can use whatever cookie cutters you want. At Easter we use crosses. These we bake, frost (special icing that has been around with these cookies) and then decorate with sprinkles and such. The crosses then are given out to people. It is so fun to share and eat!
If anyone wants the recipe I’ll share! Just ask. I plan on posting it to my blog soon.
http://cafescrapper-scrapsoflife.blogspot.com/
I”m on twitter as susieqtpie
Susan’s last blog post..
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