Tomorrow, Good Friday, marks the “beginning” of the Easter holiday, and many families are looking forward to spending the upcoming weekend with loved ones.
Some families gather during the weekend for Easter egg hunts, a large dinner or barbecue and of course, church on Sunday to participate on program while wearing a lovely new “Easter” outfit.
My family is much like many others, participating in as many Easter traditions as possible.
When I was a child, all of the reverence and excitement of Easter was saved for the one day, Easter Sunday.
I even remember my brother, Terry, and I would hunt eggs with cousins and kids in the neighborhood.
Often parents would help out, depending on a child’s age or how savvy he or she was in the hunt.
These days, I find us celebrating in the same way, except now, I usually can’t wait until Sunday to see the joy in my sons’ faces.
We watch Easter movies, eat candy and color pictures across the weekend. Sometimes, we hide eggs on the Saturday before Easter Sunday.
Last Saturday, while visiting family in Georgia to celebrate the birthdays of my mom and two of my nephews, I snuck off to a local store with my brother and bought Easter baskets packed with toys and candy for my sons and 4-year-old nephew.
Unfortunately, no one else felt the “Easter Spirit,” if you will, and wouldn’t be convinced to hide eggs.
So, the baskets came home to Mississippi with us to be a focus of delight this coming weekend.
While I love to share in the fun parts of Easter, I make sure to remind my children that it was the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who died and rose on the third day that we may have eternal life, which made the holiday possible.
That part of the holiday is often difficult to explain to young ones, but their knowing and understanding the love of God and importance of the holiday is more than worth the effort.
