Around our house, if things aren’t simple, they just don’t get done. It’s annoying but true. There are days I beat myself up over the fact I am not a ‘Pintrest’ kind of Mom, but other days, I have to just remember the advice of a wise person who said, “Just do the best you can”. Every year Easter comes around I have dreams of doing some extravagant, Christ-centered craft, activity, devotional, etc. and then the holiday just sneaks up on me. Is it just me, or do you feel like there are rarely enough hours in the day? So..simple is what we are about this year for Easter. In the end, it really is about just being with family and focusing on our Savior, right? Why is it that the world makes us feel like if we aren’t crafty-trendy-and cutsie that we’re not good enough? Sometimes the pressure to be a super-Mom just about drives me crazy.
So, I am here to simplify your Easter traditions and hopefully give you some easy ideas you can whip together without much effort (or time). One of our family’s favorite Easter treats, are to make “He is Risen” Rolls. They have four ingredients, can be thrown together in just a couple minutes and make a really fun treat for this weekend. The kids love how the marshmallow disappears and it’s a great way to talk about Christ’s resurrection. Not to mention, these rolls actually taste great too 😉
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Second idea–make a simple Easter banner. This is something I made years ago that we just pull out every Palm Sunday (the Sunday prior to Easter). I just bought these pictures of Christ online for $3.50, laminated the ones that represented Christ’s last week of His mortal life and strung them up with some ribbon. You could make this cuter and fancier…but like we said, we’re talking simple today. Every year, I take the pictures off the ribbon and the kids have fun trying to put the events of Christ’s life in order. We then string the pictures back up, hang them on our entertainment center and enjoy looking at the pictures and thinking about Christ throughout the week.
No matter what religion you are part of, you will LOVE these videos about Christ. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (aka Mormons) have put together Bible Videos about Christ’s life and ministry that are truly beautiful. Every few days we have been trying to watch a few of these videos that go with the ‘day’ of the week. Here is a link to some of these Easter videos that help our families understand why we celebrate Easter.
My all-time favorite talk given on Christ and this Easter season is given by an apostle of our church named Elder Holland. If you want to listen to this inspiring message, here it is 😉 It’s so powerful and beautiful. These videos help you feel the true meaning of this season–much more than any cute craft 😉
Watch the Ten Commandments. I know many people probably wouldn’t want to sit through this 3 1/2 hour video, but we LOVE it! It probably somewhat sentimental for me. My family growing up always watched this movie, had popcorn and snuggled in blankets. We have an Easter movie-marathon and even our youngest kids love this video. They laugh a little at the special effects, but it’s still a fun tradition we would be sad without 😉
For those of you with a little more time on your hands, it is a really fun idea to have your own family’s ‘Passover Dinner’. My Mom was an amazing Mom who tried and culture us as teenagers. She would bring us to a Passover Dinner at BYU and we really didn’t appreciate it. The fresh parsley and unleavened bread was never a favorite part of our Easter. Now that I’m older, I can appreciate the significance and I think it’s a great way to teach your kids about Easter and it’s symbolism. Now, if you want something SUPER simplified, this is what my sister does (and we’ve done) that is really easy to put together. Here is what our menu looks like–you can really put together anything that your family would like. The idea is to talk about the symbols of the meal, not necessarily needing to eat specific foods (for us anyway 😉
Italian Teriyaki Chicken Skewers (instead of lamb)–being on a skewer, they seem kind of rustic
Naan Bread–yes, it’s not unleavened, but it’s a fun bread to eat with skewered chicken. You could just buy thin wraps or tortillas if you don’t have time to make bread
Boiled Eggs–deviled eggs are yummy and easy to make
Bitter Herbs–horseradish (you can make a yummy dip with horseradish and sour cream for the chicken)
Charoseth–chopped apples, cinnamon and sugar (applesauce works great)
Karpas–fresh parsley dipped in salt water
Grape juice-representing the wine that Christ served during his last supper
Such a fun dinner idea for your family. I promise they will remember this forever! Just like my sisters and I do with my Mom. These are things to me worth putting some extra time into. But still, keep it simple. If you have nice China, this is a fun night to decorate your table fancy or everyone dress up like shepherds. You could do as much or as little as you want with this tradition 🙂
Here is our ‘Passover Meal’ from 2016. I share an additional menu idea for Chipotle Chicken Skewers–also a yummy option!
