Anyone who knows me knows that ever since my son was born I have struggled with Easter. I seem to have this incessant need to teach him "the meaning" behind holidays, and - without getting into a religious debate here - I'm not sure how I feel about the meaning behind Easter, for various reasons.
Don't get me wrong, we are Catholic (I was baptized Catholic but never practiced it, but my husband did) and we chose to send our son to a Catholic school...but still. So ever since he was old enough to start learning about traditions and the meanings behind specific holidays, I have tried to figure out how I feel about it and what I can teach him about it that isn't about a. religion and b. material things. We do still incorporate parts of religion into it because it's very important to my husband, and the older my son gets, the more he will understand about the religious meaning behind it, but - I guess, some of it was that I wanted to have something to understand about it, too, and not just celebrating something because everyone else was doing it.
Anyways, I digress. In saying all that, it's taken me a few years, but I have finally (I think) found a groove in celebrating this holiday. Although religiously Easter is celebrated because of Jesus' resurrection, but Easter has also been a long-celebrated pagan holiday which celebrates the spring equinox. Although the Spring Equinox is mostly a scientific thing having to do with the sun and its axis.....oh, sorry, did I fall asleep?....it is also the birth of spring.
Spring has always been my favourite season - I'm not a fan of winter (like, at all) and I love the feeling of spring - even the mud/manure smell makes me happy. I love the feeling of the snow melting, the sun shining, the bird chirping, neighbours and kids coming out of hibernation...literally everything about spring makes me giddy-happy. Have you ever seen the movie, House Bunny? The part where Joanne runs out of her back brace is what I feel like when winter ends and spring begins (you can see the clip here). So, what better way to celebrate Easter - a holiday that also happens to be a celebration of my favourite season?
Many families have deep-rooted Easter traditions, from church to dinner to the egg hunt. I am a stickler for tradition, I have a very hard time breaking from things I have done year after year, but since I've started my own family, I have felt it important to not only pass on the traditions I've loved since childhood, but also add to them - and I would hope that when my son grows up and gets married, he will do the same. So, in addition to many of the traditional Catholic Easter traditions we hold true, here are 5 additional, more modern traditions, we have added to our family.
5 Modern Easter Traditions to Add To The Traditional
1. The Easter Tree
Although the Easter tree isn't a new tradition, it's somehow been forgotten about throughout the years. We never had an Easter tree in our house when I was growing up, but when my grandmother passed away and we were emptying out her storage room, I found a beautiful little tree with cute hanging decorations. Unfortunately, however, a lot of the little decorations were broken or had gotten lost, so last year, I decided to make our own tree.
I must add here, as well, that I hate painting eggs. It's time-consuming, annoying, and if not done right, stinks. We have never done traditional Easter eggs and never will (also - once they're empty and painted, WTH are you supposed to do with them?!), but I do love doing long crafts as a way to celebrate the approach of a specific holiday.
So, the Easter tree is the perfect thing for all of that. You can make a tree, really, any way you like. Last year, we got a vase and some tree branches, we bought some weird little wooden eggs at the dollar store, and made a few more decorations that we hung on the tree. All in all, it probably took us about 2 hours. My son really liked going outside and finding the branches, and he loves making unique crafts we don't make often.
Here are some ideas for things you can make and put on your Easter tree.
Painted Styrofoam eggs: You can get these at Michael's or the dollar store. Take them home and do everything you would with actual eggs - but less messy and won't smell in a few days.
Painted pine cones: Go outside and search for pine cones (or you can buy them at the dollar store) and paint them in Easter colours (see here).
Clothes pin ducks: Buy some clothes pin (or find them around your house), paint them in whatever colours you want, attach some googly eyes, attach a feather, and cut a beak out of construction paper (see here)
Anything you want! You can pretty much do whatever you want with this - hang stuff off of it, glue things to it, paint it, put it in a vase or a jug...whatever. Personally, this is the one I love this year, and the one we will be doing:
2. Easter Egg Hunt 2.0
As I mentioned, my son is an only child. Last year, it actually made me sad to watch him do his Easter egg hunt because it seemed so boring. All alone (with us following him) he walked around the house looking. I mean, don't get me wrong, he got excited when he found stuff, but still...it was a lot less exciting than when I used to do it with my brother. So this year, we're going to do a scavenger hunt.
Every year, the Easter Bunny leaves him a little note instructing him to "follow the signs" and start his hunt, but this year, since he's now learning to read, we're going to turn it into more of a game - and since it was the Easter Bunny who set it up, Mom and Dad can help - it will be a lot more exciting (I hope)!
3. It Isn't All About The Chocolate
My son isn't huge on chocolate, so we don't get him a lot at Easter, but he does like candy, and he likes "treasures." So instead of hiding thousands of little eggs everywhere, we hide a few foil-wrapped ones and then put candies and little "treasures" (like small erasers, Lego men, marshmallows, toy soldiers, some loonies and twonies...you get the idea, inside those big plastic eggs. If this is something you'd like to try but need ideas, I found an awesome spot where you can get some awesome ideas.
4. Desert
Honestly, we've never been a desert family, not while I was growing up, I think there may have been pie sometimes, or cake, but we weren't huge into it. My husband, however, has a HUGE sweet tooth so I'm always trying to find new and inventive ways to make yummy treats (cause he will go out and buy a $30 cake just to have a piece every now and then).
Last year, I made Bird Nest Philadelphia® Cheesecake cups. They were a huge hit and I will definitely make them again this year. We also usually have two suppers (all our parents are divorced) so finding yummy deserts for both dinner can be a little tricky. I don't know what I'll do for the second one this year, but it won't be apple pie! haha
If you want the recipe for this ridiculously easy recipe, click here.
5. Spring Gifts
So like I said, we like to spoil our kid, there's really nothing wrong with that as long as he's a well-behaved boy. We try to keep bigger purchases (like bikes, bulk clothing, and so on) for holidays like Easter and Christmas. And in the nature of celebrating spring we always get the spring-type things: Rain boots, jacket, umbrella, spring books, sports stuff (this year, he wants to starts baseball so we will probably get him a glove and a helmet) and, of course a large chocolate bunny, as well as a stuffed bunny. It's not as exciting as Christmas morning, that's for sure, but it's a different kind of excitement - it's almost as if there is less pressure. It's just a hunt and eat chocolate kind of day, maybe with a board game, and some yummy stew for supper (yes, I do stew - unless my husband whines about it and then I do ham).
Maybe you won't implement all of these traditions into your existing ones, but trying a few out per year couldn't help. It's always nice to pass on the traditions your mother taught you, but it's nice to add your own little flare to your holidays as well.
What do you do for Easter? Is it a huge thing or is it rather laid back? Comment below! Thanks for reading!
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