Well, it's only taken me three weeks to get this one posted, but at least it is now up on the blog, so that has to account for something right? Well, if not, than you can skip on over this post. But I wanted to share it with you forgiving souls, so here it is.
This year we went about the holiday a little differently. Normally, we just do baskets on the couch with pictures of Christ's life spread above them. We read scriptures at home and then get ready to go to church. Well, that is now a tradition of the past.
On the Saturday night before Easter, Mom and Dad's ward (which by extension is my home ward since I attend Singles) presented a fantastic fireside that was given by one of the Institute gurus, who also happens to be an insatiably avid scriptorian of a bishop in the stake. The subject matter: The Last Week of Christ's Mortal Ministry...but more specifically, the last 24 hours. Let me just say WOWSERS! It was fantastic and I proceeded to take copious notes.
As a result of that uplifting oration, I decided that I didn't want Easter to be about baskets and candy and bunny rabbits on Sunday. So, baskets were done on Saturday night. Now I won't say we didn't enjoy the candy bunny rabbits and various other confections, because we still are, but the treats, complete with brand new kites, were handed out on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, before the sun had risen fully, we all awoke and prepared to go about setting our new Easter morning ritual. We left the house, scriptures in tow, and headed down to our newly discovered beach.
While the sun should have risen (it turned out to be a pretty dreary, drizzly, and downright cold, gray morning) we sat in the warm car, looking out over the beach and reading the Easter scriptures associated with our favorite Saviour pictures. It was a fantastic experience, and we look forward to repeating it for many more years to come. It has been fun to re-live that experience and once again "Stand All Amazed at the love Jesus offers me"-and every single one of us ALL the time.
What wonderful childhood memories it gave me to sit near the water and re-read the Easter story. My church never missed an Easter Sunrise the whole time I was growing up and somehow, the sun always popped out when we got to the part where the scriptures said "He has risen!" We would all gather around fires and camp stoves and enjoy a wonderful breakfast with hot cocoa and then the day became a family day! I'll always cherish those memories and always wish we had been able to do that with all of our children!
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