Home-made Easter Traditions

Two weeks after Easter might not be the best blog time to post my favorite family's Easter Tradition, but if you know me you will understand. I have the pictures handy, and next year before Easter I may never know how to put my hands on it. Maybe by next year I will have it all figured out and have my digital photos in order. (: In any case, here is a Easter tradition that my family loves.

This is an idea that I thought up (every know and then, I do get an original idea) when the children were very young, and experiencing their first Easters. I wanted to have a way to make Easter lots of fun and filled with anticipation, without using the Bunny.

I wanted to emphasis Jesus' resurrection. I had the children cover a simple tissue box with different color construction paper to make the cave tomb. We also made a solid brown construction paper door, and finally we made a white paper cutout of Jesus, the main person of this event.

On the night before Easter I have the children set up the tomb, place Jesus in it, and enclose Him with the big stone rock to cover the entrance.


I was told by my pastor that you can't take everything away from your child, as a Christian parent, and not give them something good back in its place. I was determined to use this advice to ensure my children never felt cheated out of any holiday.

How would they feel if all the other children got candy from a bunny, but Jesus gave them a special outfit to wear and a longer church service than normal? For this reason, I placed the baskets next to the tombs. When the children were little, child would secure their tomb in their own room next to their bed. Now that my older children would stay up all night to catch me "in the act", I place them all in the living room.

When everyone goes to sleep, I get the fun of bringing all the candy to the baskets. I open up the tomb and take Jesus out, because HE is RISEN, and I fill their baskets with great candy! Now, what child would not be thrilled with a big basket of candy and the excitement of knowing Jesus has risen!


And yes, this year the musical bunnies did eventually end up being part of the "Easter Display". Now that the children are old enough to have no problem twisting the Easter Bunny into the real Easter Story, about Jesus, I have no problem adding springy looking items to our decorations. And we enjoy watching the cats swat the musical bunnies moving around to the Easter Hop Song.

Easter is a very important celebration in the life of Christians. Many consider it the biggest holiday of the year. My children love Easter Morning and when they were little they used to try to set up all kinds of toy soldiers, lego creations and big stuffed animals to "protect" Jesus from being removed from to tomb at night. This was very fun, especially, to see how my boys tried to "out-trick" me with clever ways to keep me from being able to sneak in their room, get Jesus out and placing the candy basket in without them waking up.

I hope it is a tradition my children carry to their own families one day.