Spring is Almost Here

These are pictures from our property that are evidence that Spring is almost here.

With the amazing weather that we have being having lately here in California , you would think that it has been spring for WEEKS. I have daffodils that have come and gone already with many more still to bloom. We have had the signs of spring all over our property. The peach trees have these AMAZING pink blossoms all over them. There are bird's nests everywhere to be found. We even got to go and see Aunt Ann's baby sheep that were just a few days old. (She has had 2 more in the last week too) I am really falling in love with this season.
As all the kids get excited about Spring Break, Easter, and having more daylight hours to play with dad in the evenings I realize that Easter is really springing upon us. I am taken back because it is so early in the year and I have not done much of anything to get ready for it.
The last few years Charles and I have been attempting to "wean" our kids off of all the Easter Bunny hype. I love a good party just as much as the next guy (if not more in fact for those of you who know me) but I was tired of doing the whole Easter bunny thing. It felt so contrived and without purpose. The last 2 years we have done something different for the week of Easter and Easter Day. I came across this book: A Christ Centered Easter . I have so enjoyed the ideas in this book. It gives ideas for talking about the days that led up to the death and resurrection of the Savior. The devotionals that it lays out begin on the Sunday before Easter - Palm Sunday and end on Easter day. They can be as simple or elaborate as you want it to be and they have ideas for preschoolers through adults so that you can make it applicable for your family situation. Even if you just followed the recommended passages that they listed to chronologically follow along with the events that took place it would be great. Here is a really cute bookmark that you could print up for your family that lists out some recommended Biblical passages that you could do with out having the book.
We have really enjoyed this new tradition. I have to say that our favorite thing has been the Passover meal that we do on the Jewish Sabbath - Saturday. We eat our dinner the Saturday night before Easter, sitting on the floor around our coffee table. We eat food that would have been similar to the foods at the time of the Savior. We eat with our fingers and turn out the lights and eat by candlelight. Here are some of the foods that we have done in the past. (Obviously this is not truly authentic because I do not think that I could get my kids to eat goat cheese, lentils and lamb!) Dried apricots, Dried pineapple, raisins, nuts - a few different kids, pita bread, honey or honey butter, olives, celery(NO RANCH), grapes, cantaloupe, hard boiled eggs, cheese cubes, hummus, fig newtons (that is as close as I can do to figs), yogurt, grape juice and then I buy a rotisserie chicken that we just use our hands to pull apart and enjoy.
So is there a happy balance between the kids not having their childhood scarred because they never had Easter baskets and over doing the commercialism of the Easter holiday? Absolutely. I think that this is a great idea. I was reading on a blog of a mom that has been trying to work this out for her family and this was her solution. They celebrate the first day of spring - March 20th, which this year is so horribly close to Easter that it ruins this whole idea BUT.......
They go all out with decorating and dying eggs, the egg hunt, decorating a bunny cake or sugar cookies, have a great spring picnic - the possibles are numerous. Usually this will fall at least a few weeks before Easter and you could really feel like it did not interfere with the real meaning of the Easter season. Just a thought. Let me know if you want me to email you some of the ideas that are in the book that you could use for your family if you choose to do this. I just thought that this was a great compromise. Why do you think?
Happy Spring!!!