Early on in our marriage, Samuel and I decided that we wanted to focus on the Savior more than Santa at Christmas and the resurrection more than rabbits at Easter. We really want our kids to know why we celebrate and who it's really all about.
One of the ways we've decided to do that at Easter is to celebrate the last week of the Savior's life. This is our first year doing it with the kids (last year they were too small). So starting on Palm Sunday we are going have a little family devotional each night. We'll start with a song (this year we're teaching them Did Jesus Really Live Again?), open an egg with a symbolic emblem inside, and then for 2-5 minutes tell the stories that happened that day.
Sunday (palm frond) - Triumphal entry into JerusalemA few weeks ago I mentioned to my older sister that I wanted to do something a little nicer than plastic colored eggs (which work fine and I don't think it's that big of a deal to use them, I just thought it would be cool to have something fancier). A day later she found these:
Monday (YW temple medallion) - Cleanses the temple, heals the sick, the children cry "Hosanna"
Tuesday (mite or two pennies) - Questioned in the temple: 1st great commandment, widow's mite
Wednesday (oil lamp charm) - Teaches on the Mount of Olives about the second coming, parable of the 10 virgins
Thursday (sacrament cup) - Last Supper, Gethsemane, taken by the soldiers
Friday (nail, rock) - Trials through the night, crucifixion, entombed and covered with a stone
Saturday (marble or black cloth) - Teaches in the spirit world, Nephites in complete darkness hear his voice
Sunday (empty) - Women find the tomb empty, an angel announces his resurrection, Jesus appears to Mary and later the apostles, Jesus visits the Nephites and the multitude feels his hands and feet
I immediately fell in love! Since Jesus was a carpenter, it seemed to fit so well to have wooden eggs! So don't faint or anything, but I waxed crafty. I stained them with a natural colored stain to bring out the grain, sprayed on a few layers of lacquer, sketched the letters out in pencil, had Sam paint them with black enamel (yeah, I'm not that crafty), and then did a few more layers of lacquer. I had originally hoped to write "Sunday" "Monday" etc, but it ended up being much too complicated. So we stuck with first letters (for Thursday we did H, Saturday we did A, and for Easter Sunday we did E).
(I tried a darker stain first, but didn't like it as much, so there is an odd man out. I kinda find him endearing.)
I'm pretty pleased with myself. This is going to be awesome.
*For detailed articles about what happened during the last week of the Savior's life check out these two Ensign articles: The Greatest Week in History and Reflections on the Savior's Last Week.
**Just for clarification on what I'm doing, it appears that on both Tuesday and Wednesday the Savior taught at the temple during the day and taught at the Mount of Olives at night. But we don't know is which doctrines he taught which day. So I've decided to discuss the temple teachings on Tuesday and the Mount of Olives on Wednesday. It is also unclear when the 'day' ended Thursday to Friday. So I've arbitrarily divided it with the Last Supper, Gethsemane, and the betrayal on Thursday; and then the trials throughout the night, the 9 am crucifixion,and the entombment on Friday.
16 comments:
so great! thanks for sharing your goodness. i can't wait to do it with my kids!
That's AWESOME Janae! What a great idea! And those eggs are increadible! You did a great job.
sweet. question: have you played "how many words can I spell with my eggs?" yet becaue I looked at them, and that is immediately what I started doing...I guess they could do double duty. Easter and Spelling:)
Caroline - In fact, I haven't done it, but I've thought about it! No wonder we're friends. I figure with a S, T, M, E, and A alone you could get a good dozen words:
me
met
set
stem
meat
team
steam
seam
sea
tea
seat
sat
And the list goes on...
:)
Of course I'm loving it! I have my set all ready to go now and put them up on my mantel. :) Thanks for doing the crafty work for me! :)
What an amazing idea! What a great way to celebrate Easter! Thanks for the great idea. We may use this just for us!
Where'd the wooden eggs come from? Craft store? Can I get some like today?
I have a book, written by a Sister I used to VT, that is good for ideas and activities:
http://www.amazon.com/Christ-Centered-Easter-Day-Day-Activities/dp/1570087792
Never mind, I clicked the link. duh. I guess we'll have to be lame plastic egg people this year...
Thank you so much for sharing! I think we are going to try this and maybe we will be a little less awesome and just use the plastic eggs we have. But those wooden eggs are incrediable.
I am totally impressed. I am stealing your idea to use for myself this year so I'll be ready to do this with my kids when they're old enough next year.
I absolutely love the focus on the Savior's last week this week. Even though J isn't old enough I think the focus is important, thank you for sharing your crafty project! The eggs are GORGEOUS. Well done!!
Happy Easter week!
I am so stealing this. Except that have no problem at all with using cheap plastic eggs.
Love the idea and love the eggs! Great job.
You never cease to amaze me.
In Greece, they use red eggs, symbolizing the blood of Christ. And they greet each other with "He is risen!" and then he who was greeted that way answers "Truly risen!" (in Greek, of course.) I love your idea of helping your kids understand Christmas and Easter as it should be.
I love that you are starting so young to teach your kids what Easter really means. I know we talked about it when I was young, but I definitely remember the Easter baskets and candy more.
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