Easter Sunday. Jesus is Resurrected.
Easter Sunrise Picnic
Today, aside from attending our Easter Church Meeting and enjoying the beautiful Easter music (many of which are my very favorite!), we do our very favorite Easter tradition. My kids love this tradition over all other Easter traditions, secular baskets and eggs included! Every time I mention Easter or Holy Week my middle son will say “Oh! Is that where we get to do our Sunrise Picnic?!” … yes, yes it is. Because it is a SUNRISE picnic, I am not generally a morning person, and we have morning church, I keep it pretty simple, but we all LOVE it! It absolutely will become one of my children’s “core memories” they will remember throughout their lives.
For our sunrise picnic, I start by washing and making a tray of fruit. Then I wake my children up to help me prepare our “empty tomb rolls”. I check the time of sunrise on my weather app, and then usually add about an hour because we learned the hard way the first year doing this tradition that they must base it off of the valley floor horizon line and not take into consideration the large mountains that surround us. The first year, I woke them up in a rush to get everyone and everything made “by sunrise” only to have us all sitting outside for almost an hour, freezing, waiting for the sun that took way longer than originally expected, haha… another possible second coming lesson? It reminds me of “come thou long expected Jesus”…
Empty Tomb Rolls
Have you ever made empty tomb rolls? Eventually I will link a recipe. Until then, there are many recipes for them all over online. The simplest method (which is preferable this early in the morning) uses large marshmallows, butter, cinnamon and crescent roll dough.
While making them (hence the reason I wake my kids up for this part of the preparation), we talk about how the marshmallow is like Jesus’ body being wrapped & placed in the tomb (wrapped in the dough). Then they anointed his body with spices (roll it in cinnamon and sugar). Then, when cooked (after three days… but don’t cook your rolls that long! haha), the marshmallow melts… so when the children bite into it, it is now empty, like the tomb.
Bonus activity for little ones:
Have you ever seen or heard of the “resurrection glove story”? Here is my version of it:
You will need
- a glove
- a picture of Resurrected Jesus
- (Put the glove on your hand) – “Many years ago, Jesus lived on earth. He taught us how to love & obey, and he made it possible for us to someday return to live with our Heavenly Father again.”
- (Take glove off) – “When Jesus died, his spirit left his body. His body stayed on earth like this glove, and His spirit went to heaven.”
- “After 3 days, Jesus was resurrected! This means that His spirit came back to His body! (Put glove back on), and it will never be separated again.”
- “Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. He made it possible for ALL of us to be resurrected. When we die our spirits will leave our bodies. If we obey God’s commandments and keep our covenants with Him, we can live with Him again and be together with our family forever.”
Favorite Easter Songs:
Our favorite Easter songs are many! Here are a couple of my top favorites.
- Risen – by Shawna Edwards
- Handel’s Messiah (as mentioned before)
- “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” – Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – Text: Samuel Medley, 1738–1799 Music: Lewis D. Edwards, 1858–1921
- “Christ the Lord is Risen Today” -Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints – Text: Charles Wesley, 1707–1788 Music: Anon., Lyra Davidica, 1708
Resurrection Egg for Easter Sunday:
Today’s egg includes:
- a strip of paper reading “John 20:3-18”
- the empty egg representing the tomb
“He is not here, for He is risen!”
Video for Easter Sunday:
In Conclusion:
Happy Easter! He is Risen!
Leave a Reply