Happy Easter!

I can't believe it -- I'm actually posting about an event the day after! What will this do to my blogging reputation?

Well, once again we made it to the whole Triduum. The only reason we're able to do it is that the liturgies are so different and striking and impressive, each in its own way. The small fry were impressed by such things as the covered statues (Joseph: "Jesus? Hiding! No see-it!"), the beaten sticks instead of bells, and the empty holy water fonts. Miriam noticed that there was no organ from the Gloria on Holy Thursday until the Gloria at the Vigil. Joseph kept talking about Jesus' owies, and when it came time for the Veneration of the Cross, he gave the crucifix a big ol' kiss.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- it's such a blessing to be a part of this parish, where they GET liturgy. It's so reverent -- everyone truly understands his role. Our pastor is such a gift. He is an amazing, holy man. He's the oldest of 7 sons (and mentions frequently what a saint his mother is), whose father died a short while ago saving his youngest son from drowning. As tragic as it was, what an example of total self-gift that father gave his sons! No greater love...

Back to liturgy -- there are also some things we do in our domestic church that bring the meaning of these days home. The kids especially looked forward to decorating eggs this year. So Holy Saturday we cleared the decks, battened down the hatches, and generally tried to keep food coloring from permanently staining anything.

Since I'm pretty much the only one who will eat hard boiled eggs around here, I strictly limited the number of eggs each child could dye. They each got 4. And as we had 7 colors, most of their eggs ended up various shades of purple, since every egg had to be dipped in several colors.

Joseph didn't get that whole limiting thing -- he would have been happy dropping eggs into dye and fishing them out all day. He was not happy with us for insisting he was all done.

"No 'mile!"


Okay, maybe a little one.

Going to the Vigil that night was... interesting. Joseph was the only one who napped that afternoon, so everyone was pretty tired, since it began after their bedtime. After about the third reading, Katie curled up with her head in my lap and promptly went to sleep. She slept through both the Gloria (with trumpeting organ and ringing bells) and the Hallelujah chorus sung by the choir at the end of Mass. Pretty impressive. Miriam made it through all 2 1/2 hours, although she almost fell over during the consecration. Joseph, the little stinker, would NOT go to sleep. He was pretty good, though, until about the last 5-10 minutes, after he had passed through the obviously-tired, crazy-silly, and beyond-tired phases, to sheer grouchiness. I still can't believe he stayed up until 11 pm. Of course, all 3 crashed in the car on the way home. And right now, Joseph just woke up from a 3-hour nap. (Still recovering!)

The next morning Katie woke us up shortly after 6 to inform us that the Easter Bunny had come during the night, and hid the eggs in some very silly places. Normally she doesn't wake us up in the mornings, but this morning she just couldn't wait! We finally stumbled out of bed so the kids could begin hunting.

Warning: this video is mainly for grandparents who have the patience actually to watch tousle-headed little kids hunting for eggs in their jammies. :)



I still remember little Joseph last year figuring out the whole egg hunting thing -- Joseph got the hang of it really quickly this year!

the fruit of their spoils

ah, sweet aftermath

Mm, candy and Lucky Charms for breakfast!



and, of course, Peeps
(note: the management assumes no responsibility for the videographing style of the camera operator)

I also made the traditional Kulich (Russian Easter bread), sans golden raisins and candied fruit peel because we all agree those are nasty things which ruin a good sweet bread. Sadly we didn't have any brandy to add (I KNEW I left something off the shopping list!), but it tasted delish nonetheless. The bread was actually initially twice as tall as this, but it was so dense that it collapsed under its own weight!

We had a big Easter lunch (once again, I grossly underestimated how long it takes to heat up a bone-in ham. 10 mins. per lb., my foot!) complete with mostly warm ham, scalloped potatoes, steamed asparagus, crescent rolls, and fruit cocktail, and sparkling cranberry-grape juice to drink (non-alcoholic Easter this year, alas!). I also made 2 doz. cupcakes which I haven't decorated yet, and which we have yet to touch. So far chocolate and peeps have been an adequate dessert (not to mention snacks). :) Thankfully no one ate himself sick, although Katie came pretty close and was required to cease all candy consumption for several hours.

That afternoon we were invited to some dear friends' for a monster Easter Egg Hunt, because we didn't have enough candy in the house already. :) It was a great time, with great food and great conversation, and miraculously, no comparison of labor stories! (Just swapping pregnancy horrors and baby spit-up stories.) :) Katie is an awesome little egg-hunter. She was fearsome to behold, running full-tilt in her long, smocked-front rose-print Easter dress and white heels, hair flying in her speed. Why do I never think to bring the camera to things like this? Joseph's egg hunting experienced a temporary hold, since after he had found two eggs he saw an array of trucks on the patio and was momentarily distracted. :) After several minutes he decided he wanted to find more eggs, but by that time the galloping hordes had gotten most of them. He found 2 or 3 more, which was fine with him. He opened one, ate the candy inside, then went back to playing with the trucks. :) A good day for him.

A good day for everyone -- filled with all the traditional joys that make celebrating Holy Days as wonderful as they are! Hope yours was as blessed!