Alleluia!

Easter is here! We've been anticipating the Easter season for quite a while now -- mostly I think so certain people could have dessert and watch movies again. :)

As you know my personal preparation involved cleaning the house from top to bottom. To tell the truth I'm still not quite finished -- there are about 3 more tasks I have to complete before I'll feel done. The upstairs was too monumental a task to finish in one day so I had to break it up, which pushed the last day of spring cleaning onto Holy Saturday. But most of that day was spent preparing in all the usual methods for Easter Day.

We didn't get to dye eggs last year, for obvious reasons. :) It was great fun doing it again. Now I need to think of ways to make 15 hard-boiled eggs appetizing to the 7-and-under crowd, or I'm going to be eating lots of them myself. Mmm, lecithin and cholesterol!

I made Kulich again this year, which is Russian Easter bread. It's a lot like Pannatone (sp?) -- just a sweet bread baked in a big coffee can and drizzled with a glaze to look like an onion dome. :) We're not huge fans of golden raisins and candied fruit, so I left those out. I kept the rum though. :)

Here we are all prettied up for the Easter Vigil! We actually made it to all the Triduum liturgies this year. I wasn't sure we would -- Joseph is at an extremely difficult stage for bringing to church. He spends about 2 minutes in the pew, and the rest being carried back and forth in the back of the church. He also has no volume control -- and he's discovered the great echoes in our church. Have I mentioned that they're doing construction on the church too, so there's no place to take a shrieking baby except outside?

But we survived. The girls were angels. They had their books, and were busy looking at all the changes that had taken place in the church and asking questions about the covered statues and no candles and such. The lack of bells on Good Friday made an impression. The Easter Vigil was actually pretty easy -- the girls were both groggy, even though they had taken naps that afternoon. And Joseph slept through most of the Mass (the bells and organ woke him up during the Gloria though). Thank goodness he's still nursing -- best way to keep him quiet right now. :) There were several other families who braved the Vigil -- although by the end of Mass I noticed that about a third of the congregation was missing -- several families had to bail out halfway through. It's hard to get little kids all the way through, especially when they can't see what's going on. And there's always so much to see at the Easter Vigil.

I'm always moved by all the ritual of the Triduum. Our parish is extremely blessed to have people who understand the importance of good liturgy. The priests are so holy and reverent, and we have a top-notch choir director and pretty good choir. It really helps you get in the proper frame of mind when all the various components to the liturgy don't compete for attention but work together harmoniously and beautifully. We also had many people come into the church -- our parish is always blessed with an amazing number of RCIA candidates each year. I think there were 10 baptisms, and 3 pews' worth of confirmations, however many that is. :) It's so inspiring to see so many enter the church -- it fills me with hope that the world isn't totally lost yet. :)

So we got home verrrrrry late and bundled the kids into bed, then insured that the Easter Bunny would come, and bundled ourselves to bed. Easter morning began bright and early of course because we have children. THEY didn't care that the Easter Bunny had only been asleep for 5 hours. They were very excited about their baskets and hunting eggs that the Bunny had left around the living room. Joseph actually started off the hunt when he found a couple of them, not very well hidden on a chair. He just thought it was fun to shake them and make them rattle, until one accidentally opened and he learned it had FOOD inside. Oh, what joy is this?? A toy AND food in one?? Bliss!

Enjoying the fruits of victory.



An important first in any young person's life: Baby's First Peep


Then we got all jacked up on sugar and chocolate, an important part of this good-for-you breakfast.

I like Easter!!! Ba ha ha ha ha!!!

We spent the rest of the day doing just whatever we liked. I got to play the piano and catch up on Facebook, Mr. Pickles played some video games, Miriam played on the computer, the girls spent lots of time running around outside,

Joseph -- well, we still insisted on changing his diaper, but he had a good day for all that -- and we all ate copious amounts of candy. I wanted to have dinner early, but faithful to tradition I drastically underestimated the amount of time it would take the ham to cook (next year I'm putting it in the oven before breakfast) so we had to scramble to find something non-chocolate for lunch. I wish I had taken a picture of the dinner table too -- the ham was a thing of beauty. Or maybe it seemed so b/c we haven't eaten much meat in the last 6 weeks.

Anyway, we rounded off dinner with an appropriately liturgically-themed dessert which was a big hit (and fun to decorate).

Christus Resurrexit, Alleluia!

O God of God! O Light of Light!
Thou Prince of Peace, Thou King of kings,
To Thee, where angels know no night,
The song of praise forever rings:
To Him Who sits upon the throne,
The Lamb once slain for sinful men,
Be honor, might, all by Him won,
Glory and praise! Amen! Amen!

Deep in the prophets’ sacred page,
Grand in the poets’ wingèd word,
Slowly in type, from age to age,
Nations beheld their coming Lord;
Till through the deep Judean night
Rang out the song, “Good will to men!”
Hymned by the first born sons of light,
Re-echoed now, “Good will!” Amen.

That life of truth, those deeds of love,
That death of pain ’mid hate and scorn,
These all are past, and now above
He reigns our King, once crowned with thorn.
Lift up your heads, ye heav’nly gates,
So sang His hosts, unheard by men;
Lift up your heads, for you He waits,
We lift them up! Amen, Amen.

Nations afar, in ignorance deep,
Isles of the sea, where darkness lay,
These hear His voice, they wake from sleep,
And throng with joy the upward way.
They cry with us, “Send forth Thy light,
O Lamb, once slain for sinful men;
Burst Satan’s bonds, O God of might;
Set all men free!” Amen, Amen.

Sing to the Lord a glorious song,
Sing to His Name, His love forth tell;
Sing on, Heav’n’s hosts, His praise prolong;
Sing ye who now in earth do dwell,
Worthy the Lamb for sinners slain;
From angels, praise; and thanks from men;
Worthy the Lamb, enthroned to reign,
Glory and power! Amen, Amen!

-"O God of God" by John D. Julian