Here is a look and review of our Holy Week and Easter this year. It was different traveling during Holy Week, but we had a great time on our family ski trip and it was much needed family time! We did not attend all of the Easter Triduum Masses, but God met us where we are, at this phase of our life and blessed us abundantly. We found and used those little moments to come together as a family and draw closer to Him and the true meaning of Easter.
Palm Sunday
We were enjoying our beautiful family vacation on Palm Sunday and explored a new Church to attend Palm Sunday Mass. We stuck with our tradition of sitting in the very first row and it again did well for us for the children to all have a front and center view of what was happening. They did great through the long readings of the Passion Story and had fun making crosses with their palms after Mass.
Spy Wednesday
We were on our ski vacation on Spy Wednesday, but we had a great time reading the Gospel for the day and also our Holy Week in Handprints book and the story of Judas handing over Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver. We then hid 30 pieces of silver and our oldest boys had a great time searching for them. We had a nice conversation about what we can say to people who do not believe in Jesus and how to always show our love to Him.
Holy Thursday
We were packing up to drive 9 hours home the next day so on Holy Thursday we took some time in the evening to read Jesus Washes Peter's Feet and then the boys took turns washing each others feet during their evening bath to learn how to be servants to each other.
Good Friday
We spent Good Friday driving all day long from Colorado to Nebraska, but it was a good opportunity to be together as a family and pray. We listened to the Stations of the Cross with our Holy Heroes CD, prayed the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy and listened to Tre Ore: The Seven Last Words of Christ by Bishop Barron.
Holy Saturday
We had a great vacation (more about that later), but it was also so great to be home! We did a quick grocery run Saturday morning then came home to decorate Easter Eggs and then just RELAX!
Making Easter Cookies
Making Easter Story Cookies was a new activity for our family this year, and although they were super fun to make, they did not turn out at all! I have no idea what we did wrong, but it was kind of funny to wake up on Easter morning to flat pancake type cookies (not the hollow cave shape like they were supposed to be)! Either way, we enjoyed putting them together and reading the Bible verses that correlate. We can try again next year!
Easter Sunday
Finally, Easter arrived! Alleluia, He has Risen! We woke up and went to morning Mass and the kids did great. They notice everything at Mass and loved to see all of the flowers, the priest wearing white and the brand new Paschal Candle! I love seeing our young men all dressed up. They also loved seeing our new Resurrection Set on display!
Easter Egg Hunt
We came home and had a little Easter Egg hunt and Easter Baskets for the kids. Not believing in the Easter Bunny makes it really casual and fun for our family. The big kids were helping to hide the eggs and everyone helped to find them all. They loved their Easter Basket gifts and some of the favorites included:
Catholic By Number Card Game
Trinity Toyz The Last Supper
Melissa and Doug Jonah and the Whale Puzzle
Saints Memory Card Game
Saint Francis of Assisi Shining Light Doll (our 4 year old's favorite Saint!)
Priestly PJ's (they have sizes 3months - 3T)
and the hit of the day was the Mass Kit and Monstrance from Almond Rod Toys!
We came home and had a little Easter Egg hunt and Easter Baskets for the kids. Not believing in the Easter Bunny makes it really casual and fun for our family. The big kids were helping to hide the eggs and everyone helped to find them all. They loved their Easter Basket gifts and some of the favorites included:
Catholic By Number Card Game
Trinity Toyz The Last Supper
Melissa and Doug Jonah and the Whale Puzzle
Saints Memory Card Game
Saint Francis of Assisi Shining Light Doll (our 4 year old's favorite Saint!)
Priestly PJ's (they have sizes 3months - 3T)
and the hit of the day was the Mass Kit and Monstrance from Almond Rod Toys!
Playing Mass
Since starting Catechesis of the Good Shepard our boys have really loved "playing mass". I knew that they would like a Mass Kit, but I really had NO idea how excited they would be! We bought the Mass Kit and Monstrance from Almond Rod Toys and it could not be more perfect for our family! They also loved lighting our new Paschal Candle from Holy Heroes and putting up our Resurrected Jesus on our Stations of the Cross from Jesse Tree Treasures!
Family Dinner
We ended the day with a family dinner with my side of the family. It was great to catch up and enjoy their company!
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Aw man how frustrating about the cookies! Have you made meringues before? I'm guessing if they ended up flat, your stiff peaks weren't stiff enough - they really need to stick *straight* up when you lift the beater. Ours didn't quite turn out either - in theory turning the oven to 300 and then turning it off and leaving them should work, but our oven automatically vents when you turn it off to cool faster, so ours weren't cooked all the way :( I stuck them back in the oven at a low temperature for a while and it was fine, but next year I'll just sneak to the oven and cook them all the way while the kids are sleeping!
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