easter roundup 2010

This is our Easter table, 

 with our Easter Tree and some Easter picture books.

These are the beautiful roses VCH bought me for Easter as I asked him not to buy me chocolate this year.

We celebrated Passover/ the Last Supper on Thursday Night.

This is something that we have been doing for about 10 years. 

I cook a beautiful Middle Eastern roast lamb (out of a Jewish recipe book) and vegetables. 

We have the traditional passover accompaniments: parsley with salt water, haroset (a mixture of apple, nuts and honey), horseradish and flat bread. 

We read about the Last Supper in the Bible and talk about the symbols of the Passover and what they meant to the Jews and what they mean to us this side of the Cross.

On Good Friday we make hot cross buns and hot chocolate for morning tea and read about the Crucifixion in the Bible.

VCH and the children caught the fish for our tea when I was away at WINGS (Women IN Gospel Sharing).

This year on Easter Saturday we thought we would do something as it always seems a bit of a blank day. 

So after tea I gave everyone some new pyjamas and told them to get dressed and meet us in the lounge room.

On the table was one lit candle. 

I gave everyone a small candle (birthday candle)

I had made two scripts for a Festival of Light service. 

It has two reading parts one for the adults and the other for children who can read, we took turns in reading it and at the appropriate part we took turns in lighting our candle from the person before us.

Then we sent the children quietly off to bed, while VCH and I set about preparations for the following day.

I set the table, VCH hid the eggs.

We always eat boiled eggs on Easter morning and we each have our own special egg cups that we only use at Easter. 

Each year the children's grandfather (Poppy) gives them a rabbit so I always put that on the table too.

In the centre of the table is a basket with presents to do with the Ressurection.

A lamb: Jesus the Lamb of God

In a plastic egg are jelly beans of different colours representing sin, Jesus blood, sins washed away, heaven, growing in Jesus.(one per child)

Rock Candy to represent the stone that was rolled away

Gold coins to remind us of 30 pieces of silver

An empty plastic egg- representing the empty tomb

A gift representing the Easter story - in this case the book The Legend of the Easter Egg.

Hunting for Eggs is the first activity of the day.

All the eggs have been collected - they each have their own baskets.

We then read Benjamin's Box and used the Resurrection Eggs and had our boiled eggs for brekkie and read about the Resurrection in the bible.

After church we visited VCH's Family and gave them each a watermelon wrapped as a Easter Egg each that we grew in the garden and a homemade chocolate crackle egg for each child.

Easter lunch is always Chicken, this year we had chicken skewers.

After lunch Grandma and Grandpa visited, they were in time for afternoon tea.

Mazurka cake (a Polish Easter cake).

I have been making this cake every Easter since I was in High School.

We usually eat it for afternoon tea on Easter Sunday.

In my Jewish cookbook is a similar cake it is usually served at Passover because it has no raising agents so this is probably where it stems from.

B4 of course had to make everyone presents and do his own egg hunt.

These are the little baskets that he made VCH and me for the hunt because we didn't have our own.

This is a very condensed version of our Easter, I was going to do several posts and had lots of lovely photos but it is now so late that it seems a bit silly.

It was a lovely Easter full of wonderful traditions and happy family memories.