I am a fan of the Guardians. Anna’s personal tooth fairy is named Elvira, we have a leprechaun named Paddy that visits us every St. Patrick’s Day, I even put the “He Lives” sign next to my old fashioned statue of Santa at Christmas time. But the Easter Bunny has never really captured my imagination. Maybe because he’s a rodent, and all furry things with tails send me running the other direction.
But last year we spent Easter camping with friends, and even though Josh learned some things about the Easter Bunny, it was a more spiritual than usual.
This year I wanted to continue the tradition.
So this is how the kids and I decorated our hallway, completely pinterest worthy, right? It is a scripture journey through the last week of Christ’s life. Scripture references are here. I added pictures that I had from our Gospel Art Kit and others from Carl Bloch that I cut out of a calendar. We didn’t have one for the Saturday after Christ died, so Anna created one for us.
The creating helped her ponder even more.
We’ll read the scriptures and look at the pictures each night the week before Easter. I hope the combination of looking and hearing helps the kids to realize that while this is an amazing story… it’s real. I want them to be able to picture every aspect of it.
The other side of our hallway looks like this… Anna didn’t want any pictures to be left out.
A couple days ago Josh was running late because he’d been sitting in the hallway staring at the pictures, it made me glad. Have you ever really looked closely at some of these? There is amazing detail. It’s good to slow down, to ponder, to be.
There are other more in depth amazing ideas here.
For our family, we will just be doing the Easter Walk, and probably not all of it, in addition to a fabulous egg hunt, or two.
It’s all about the AND. The fun AND the deeper joy.
Attachment 1
Easter Walk
Give participants a list of what to find and a bag to put their treasures in. When you gather together at the end of the walk, have participants take out their treasures one by one and discuss how each relates to the Easter story, using the chart and scripture references below.
On your walk find:
- something sharp
- something prickly or thorny
- something made of wood
- something dead
- something dark or black
- something round and smooth
- something fragrant
- something soft
- something living
- something colorful and beautiful
- something that captures water (you don’t have to put this one in your bag)
- something light in color, or that captures light
Item | Symbolic of | Scripture |
something sharp | Jesus’ pain in the Garden | Luke 22:44, Matt 26:38-41 |
something prickly or thorny | the crown of thorns placed on Christ’s head | Mark 15:17 |
something made of wood | the cross | John 19:17-18 |
something dead | Christ’s death | Luke 23:46 |
something dark or black | the darkness that covered the earth at His death | Luke 23: 44-45 |
something round and smooth | the stone rolled in front of the tomb | Mark 15:46 |
something fragrant | the herbs and spices brought to anoint Christ’s body | Mark 16:1 |
something soft | the linens Mary found in the tomb on Easter morning | Mark 15:46 |
something living | Christ’s resurrection | Matthew 28:5-6 |
something colorful and beautiful | The hope and joy that comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ | Alma 36:18-21 |
something that captures or contains water | Christ is living water. | John 4:11-14 |
something light in color | Jesus is the light of the world. | John 9:5 |
It’s all about the AND.