Did Easter completely sneak up on us this year? Perhaps it was because we were out of town for Spring Break and by the time we returned, we only had one week before the holiday. I deemed this not enough time to drag out our Easter decorations so our house was sadly bunny-less.
Wabbit-hater Elmer Fudd Jamie said it was our best Easter ever.
We weren’t in town for any of our community Easter egg hunts but we still had a grand old time that started with a fun “egging” in our neighborhood. On Thursday, we discovered an empty Easter egg basket on our doorstep with a cute poem to find 12 candy-filled eggs hidden on our lawn. We were then to return the favor to another neighbor and keep the chain going.
So that night after dark, we covertly planted the eggs, rang the doorbell and RAN.
Basically, it’s the coolest egging ever.
Trust me, my car was egged in high school (by a boy who allegedly had a crush on me) while I was still in it. This is a much better alternative.
On Easter morning, the kids got a haul of candy, craft supplies (Hadley), goodies for Mario Party 9 (Bode) and strawberry cream cheese crepes for breakfast.
Then there were the requisite pictures in our Sunday best. Usually our photo shoot is the most painful part of the day but all I took were these four photos because 1) they were darn cute and 2) I’ve given up the hope that Bode will ever smile normally in pictures.
And Easter dinner? Uncle Chris smoked a ham all day long (with apricot-honey sauce), and we devoured funeral potatoes, homemade Challah bread, strawberry salad and the kids’ cake batter truffles.
Is this where I make a bad joke about Jamie being a “ham?”
But hands down, my favorite part of the day was our new Easter tradition: the Easter Walk. Based on the bookby Deborah Pace Rowley (which I need to buy), this “Treasure Hunt for the real meaning of Easter” is a beautiful way for kids to discover the symbolism of Christ’s resurrection in our every day world with six clues and accompanying scriptures.
(The boys reading the clue.)Our family went to Majestic View Park and the views (and entire experience) were, indeed majestic.
One of my new favorite pictures:
The kids enjoyed themselves but I especially loved doing the Easter Walk with the Young Women. Usually giggly and chatty (they are teenagers), I loved watching them reflectively stroll around the beautiful grove behind our church.
When we came back together, they shared what they had collected and I was astounded and humbled at just how insightful and good they are, and what a privilege it is for me to teach and be taught by them each week.
Basically, this was one of my favorite Easters ever.
Even without the wabbits.
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 