Celebratory Easter Ideas

I missed posting this last week, but I figured since we’re still in the Easter season and some of these ideas might be interesting/worth putting more thought into for next year, we’d just go for it. So here ye are. (For my first post on this, you can click here.)

Now for the further discussion of presents.

And celebratory things in general.

And the presents. ;)

But first, decorations.

After all the twinkly lights at Christmastide it’s always a downer to go to nothing at all in January, so this year around Epiphany (Jan 6th)/the end of the 12 days of Christmas, I switched out and put up some different white string lights in our living room and running down the hallway, both of which tend to get a little dark in the winter anyway. I really like the idea of having them up through Easter and Ascension Day. It creates a nice ambiance and has actually served as a really good daily reminder of the forward march of the church calendar.

Oh, and I also got some neat lanterns last year I love and… forgot to pull out this year. (The consequence of having things, neatly organized of course! ;D, but in multiple places due to ongoing construction. At least that’s what I’m blaming it on. ;))

I’ve been thinking a lot about imagery to do with the Tree of Life. I know there’s debate about Christmas trees (personally, we stand firmly cheering Boniface), but either way the evergreens are a symbol of eternal life, etc. This might be obvious, but when I was little I remember being kinda disappointed when reading Genesis that we never got to hear much more on the Tree of Life and then I distinctly remember the thrill when I was around twelve or so and realized it's really the whole point. The Tree of Life runs through every chapter, looming large and shaping the entirety of the story of creation and redemption. From Genesis through Ezekiel and on to Revelation 22 wherein we find the tree whose leaves are for the healing of the nations.

And of course -- spilling out from this -- garden (and mountaintop) imagery is typologically apt: with Christ as the New Adam, Christ rising in the garden, the world becoming a garden, etc. etc.

Fresh flowers are always lovely. And I’m not generally too keen on silk flowers (cause they can get dusty so quickly), but I have invested in some realistic looking wisteria and rose garlands (ivy’s also nice). I’m hoping if I keep them boxed up they’ll last for quite a few years and be something of a family tradition to pull out.

Now to the feasting.

As always, I think we should give some thought to hospitality. (And I don't want to send a critical message re different preferences, situations, etc. -- we're just trying to get the thought wheels spinning here.) It does seem that folks tend to expect more of a family dinner holiday (i.e. like Thanksgiving -- I mean you might have other folks over too, but the general emphasis seems to be on family). And the day IS very specifically joy for believers and condemnation and fear for those who are not. But if Christ rose from the dead the world should be hearing about it. Our neighbors should be hearing about it. And step one, we should most definitely be warmly inviting and welcoming in our fellow Christian brothers and sisters.

Of course, when thinking about evangelizing, we want to be winning our neighbors. Not making them uncomfortable on the one hand or making light of the glorious feast day on the other. So cookies at their gate or doorstep is always a great initial idea too. And the cookies don’t have to have a message. The idea is that it’s an unexpected gift and it’s to get people thinking. Surprise them.

Another idea I’d really like to try is singing at nursing homes. We’ve done caroling around Christmastime (which is great), but I think it could be a particular Resurrection Day blessing as well.

And if you have an extra day of family time around Easter maybe a special outing... a trip to the zoo, day in the mountains, cave visit, water and sand time at the ocean, or even a fun backyard picnic. Something memorable and un-everday-ish.

And the presents.

I’m so happy some of you liked my thoughts on gifts in the last post. I really loved hearing from you! :)

The little Princess got some books I’ve had on hand and been wanting to give her for a while: A Time to Keep by Tasha Tudor and Flower Fairies of the Spring and Autumn by Cecily Mary Barker. I found the sweet wooden puzzle on eBay and the fairytale dress on Amazon. I’m really excited about the dress so sharing the link here. Y’know usually the play dresses end up being kinda itchy, but the tulle on this one is so soft and the top is cotton -- nice medium weight cotton. And it’s not $50, much less than $50 in fact, coming in to just about what the fabric cost would be.

So there you go. What d’ye think? I’d love to hear more of y’alls great ideas!