Crosses & Crafts: An Easter Celebration

It is the Wednesday before Easter and trying to make the holiday season memorable for my 3 year old daughter and 18 month old son has been a task. We did the Easter egg hunt which was actually fun for both of them, with minimal output since we took them to our church’s Eggstravaganza. Many cities’ parks and rec programs also hold Easter egg hunts for the community.

But besides the eggs and candy, I found my 3 year old lacking in enthusiasm about this holiday season and I came to the conclusion that the one to blame was me. I further realized how different Christmas and Easter is celebrated, even though the greater event should be the latter. The incarnation of the Son of God was a grand feat, don’t get me wrong. But shouldn’t the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ be even more celebrated? I came to terms with society’s lack of enthusiasm and embarked on a plan to make Easter just as great as Christmas!

After telling my daughter that we will soon celebrate Easter and maybe we should decorate the house, she asked, “But where’s our tree?”

I thought about the dying potted Christmas tree in the front yard that we hadn’t watered since Christmas. We had bought a potted tree hoping that we could plant it and see it grow by the following Christmas. We had forgotten that neither my husband nor I had green thumbs and have killed many a plant. The thought still lingered in my mind to bring the tree in and make egg and cross ornaments for it. The thought is still lingering.

My daughter, tonight, had a great idea. She simply had some two paper towel rolls she found in my stash of “household items that may be someday used for craft projects” pile and was forming it into a cross. I then took a ribbon and tied the two rolls together and she proudly put it on top of the television, proclaiming, “It’s just like the church house!”

Then after dinner, she excitedly exclaimed, “Let’s make Easter crafts!” So at a wink’s notice, I resorted to my default craft: Dioramas with shoeboxes. So we glued a tomb inside the shoebox using crumpled brown paper and slit a hole in the box on the side to slip in a movable stone. Then we just decorated the back and added an angel and two women and the craft was done. Midway through, she found some pipe cleaners and had already moved on to the next craft at hand.

“Can we make a craft with these?” she asked eagerly.
“Um, okay,” I answered.

Pipe cleaners… pipe cleaners… what to do with pipe cleaners…: of course, lets make a cross. So I helped her form the bendable fuzzy material into a cross to which we attached a ribbon and made a necklace. Fortunately it was time for bed and I evaluated the object lessons of the day and was glad my daughter loves crafting with her mom.

Tomorrow may be Easter cookie day. Probably not the “Resurrection Cookies” being passed around Christian circles made with vinegar and walnuts. They didn’t sound too appetizing, but I may be wrong. We’ll just bake the sugar kind (probably pre-made) to be cut in shapes of crosses, eggs, and flowers. For a 3 year old, that’s more than enough excitement.

Now I need to think of something to do for Good Friday, the following Saturday, and Easter Sunday. And I think I’ll pass on viewing Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” as my husband suggests with a smirk.