I while back I wrote a blog post about Christmas and I realized that I am not alone.  There are other parents out there that are trying to find a balance for their families in all this tradition.  Just for an update we did tell Annabel Santa and the Easter bunny were not real.  At first she did not believe us, but about once a week for the following month or so she would bring it up to either me or David.  I think because I was the one who initially told her she wanted to check and see what her daddy would say about it.  Finally, once it sank in and she realized we had in fact told her the truth she started asking me things like, “So, did daddy dress up like a reindeer and eat the carrots?” and “Did daddy dress up like Santa and eat the cookies and milk?” This was followed by uncontrollable laughter at the thought of her daddy pretending to be a reindeer and Santa.  Whew.

So, that brings us to Easter this year. When David suggested we change it up even more my first thought was, “we already got rid of the Easter bunny what more do you want to change?” This was followed by the immediate realization that I am a slave to tradition.  This is not something I want to be a slave to.  I love tradition, but this is my chance to make my own tradition for my family.  And not just tradition for the sake of tradition, but ones that are going to reflect what I want to be the focus and center of our family (I will give you one guess who that is)…you got it, Jesus Christ.

Luckily, I am married to a very wise and patient man and he gave me time to come around and then this is what we decided.

1.  We are no longer doing the Easter baskets and egg hunt on Sunday morning when the kids get up. We are moving these traditions to Saturday morning.  That way Saturday can be a day of eating lots of candy and playing with their gifts and they can get it all out of their system.  Some of the major benefits are that  Sunday morning we are not dragging sugared up kids to church to teach them about something they can’t focus on because they can only think about getting home and getting more candy.  Not to mention Easter Sunday is one of two days in the whole year that we get to go to church as a family.  These two mornings a year mean A LOT to me, so much that they usually involve tears (tears of joy).  I want to make the most of them.

2. This year is the first year we are doing the resurection eggs (I think they sell them at lifeway, we are using the ones David’s parents used when David was young).  These we will hide Saturday night and when the kids find them all we will gather together and hear the story of Jesus together before we go to church.  Annabel is so excited about these eggs.  She loves stories and she is trying to figure out what each of the symbols mean but I keep making her wait so that excitement can build and it can be something fun for that morning.

I am so excited about these changes and I can’t wait to focus this morning on Jesus and what He did for the whole world.  Without His death and resurrection I would be nothing.  He is my identity, my purpose, my testimony, my salvation, my hope and yet day after day I do something sinful that reminds me how much I need Him.  It is the blessing of my life to love and serve Him and I pray that everyone reading will feel the same way.  I love you all and I hope that no matter what you decide to do this Easter that you give your all to the one that loves you so much!