Was That Easter???

This is not the first time I've said this, but I was NOT ready for Easter this year!
It came too fast for me!
I did what I had to do, at a bare minimum!
I debated even filling eggs for a hunt.
We went to our church egg hunt, and I about called that good!
It ended up raining Sunday and the kids hunted in the house... yep, that's about how it felt this year!

It is always clustered in with 4 birthdays anyways, which makes it challenging, but this year I don't know, I just couldn't get into it!

Maybe it's my own reflection and wonder about this holiday.

Last Christmas I gave a talk in church.  I began with this from an Old Testament study guide I have...

The Purpose of Holidays

Almost universally mankind looks forward to its holidays, for they represent a break in the usual rigors of sustaining mortal existence. The Lord Himself has acknowledged their benefit from the earliest times. Knowing that an endless procession of days filled with toil can cause man to become hardened and insensitive to the things of the Spirit, the Lord instituted holidays. The word is important. It means “holy day,” that is, “a day marked by a general suspension of work in commemoration of an event” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, s.v., “holiday”). Rather than simply designating special days only to break the routine, however, in the Mosaic dispensation the Lord established holy days that would accomplish a spiritual purpose as well. The feasts and festivals were given by revelation to lift the spirit as well as rest the body. Like all other parts of the Mosaic law, the feasts and festivals also pointed to Christ.

This of all 'holy days' should be most sacred, even more than Christmas, to me at least.
Christmas time is the celebration of the birth of Christ, but Easter, Easter is the celebration of the fulfillment of what He came here to do... what his mission was about.  The atonement fulfilled for those who will claim it, His death and resurrection, bonds of death broken so we all may have that promise of resurrection.

Bunnies and chicks and chocolate, hunts and gifts... what?

Don't get me wrong, I love tradition, and we have celebrated the tradition for years, but this year... I was left wanting.

I am bothered that I have NO religious décor for this holiday.
I don't have a ton of bunnies or anything like that either, but for Christmas I have much to remind me of the purpose of this holiday.

Next year I intend to make this better for me and my family.

Here is what I did do, as far as décor.

Note... only our family room was decorated for Easter, the other parts of the house are decorated for the constant stream of birthdays we have going.

I got these little wooden ornaments from Target dollar spot.  I chose to make a garland with them.  They'd also be cute on the end of skewers, in a vase, as a little centerpiece.

That didn't work did it?





Since they weren't facing out I took them off and punched another hole w/ my cropodile, then restrung...

Much better!  Now they are facing out. 
Here is our mantle...

 

I've had the egg topiaries for a few years.  I added the bunnies this year, again from Target.

I made a deal w/ G that he didn't have to go to church if he let me take a picture of him... remember he had just got hit in the face the day before... the rest of us enjoyed church... after the baskets.

The part about, any holiday, that I do enjoy, is of course being with our best friends.  The Christensen's are practically family and we love celebrating with them.  I made rolls and a strawberry, feta salad.  We had a wonderful turkey dinner, we hid the eggs and hunted inside. 

That was that! 

It will take some serious prep for me to make this holiday great for us next year.  I need to have it all done before all of the birthdays hit me.  I'll be reporting on all of those soon!