Our Easter Week

Here's what will happen at our house,  if it does :)   We're going to abstain from all sugar (and caffeine and alcohol) to get ready for the Easter feast (which hopefully will have plenty of all three).  I'm going to clean out my freezer of frozen casseroles, soups, meats so I don't have to focus too much on meals during the early part of the week.

M: Grocery/activity supply/ last minute Easter dress/Easter basket gifts shopping

T: Make hot cross buns for Friday (freeze).

W:  Preparations for the weekend, Vespers.


TH:  Lentils for dinner; read the Lord's Supper part of the Small Catechism; Maundy Divine Service

F: Hot cross buns for breakfast
    Cover all the crosses and icons in the house
    Color stations of the cross coloring pages (HT, Aubri)
    Sing "Lamb of God, Pure and Holy" after reading the Good Friday account
    Make an Easter garden (this one is really fancy, this one more simple)
    Simple pasta, olive oil and grated parmesan meal + veggies for dinner
    Tenebrae Service at church
    (Start Paskha recipe)
    Quiet evening and bed early

S:  Rest, try to play quietly, family activities, read Easter picture books, have kids make their own Easter         baskets
     Preparation for Easter: baths, lay out clothes, decorate the house after the kids are asleep, breakfast prep., fill Easter baskets

Easter decoration ideas: An Alleluia banner (perhaps one you "buried" back in February), lots of cut flowers from your garden (if you live in the warmer parts of the country :), an Easter scene (Hobby Lobby had them last year), set table with fine china for tomorrow's meal, uncover covered crosses.  Balloons, streamers, white "Christmas lights" (ok, maybe not this year, but it would be really cool for my kids to come downstairs and be as excited by the decorations as they are at Christmas). 

Resurrection Sunday: Rejoice! Eat!  Receive God's gifts!  (And sing all those alleluias we've been saving).   After church we'll have dinner at my parents; then we'll have dessert at my in-laws'.  There will be lots of candy, Easter egg hunting, cracking, outside games, and singing (we try to sing lots of Easter songs on Easter).  In the evening my husband and I will have a little "dip dinner" of paskha, salsa, and spinach spread/dips with dipping materials; sliced sausage; fresh fruit and fruit dips; and champagne.  We might play one of our favorite games (Bohnanza, Scrabble, Agricola, Ticket to Ride, Backgammon), or we might go to bed. 

I'm still thinking of and researching Easter Season Activities (50 days!!).  I know we will learn Christ Is Arisen, the first hymn my husband and I learned together after we were married. 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.  I Peter 1:3