The best time of the year is almost here! As the weather begins to get warmer, the sunshine sticks around longer and Spring starts to blossom, Catholics get to celebrate 50 whole days of Easter!
For our family, celebrating Easter is as St. Therese of Lisieux explains of prayer, “it is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love..” We use the season of Easter as a sneak peek of the upcoming Resurrection of each of our own lives when we, God-willing, will be welcomed into Heaven after we pass from this life. This is why it is so important for us as parents to properly order our Lenten sacrifices and our Easter celebrations so that our children can, hopefully, emulate our model as they grow in their own spiritual journey.
Here are some fun and edifying ways to celebrate the Easter season.
Latin prayers for children
Learning how to pray in Latin has been just as enjoyable for my husband and I as it has been for our children. We started by learning the fundamental Catholic prayers such as the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. We listened to videos on YouTube when we first started to learn the pronunciation of the words. Two of the many reasons to pray in Latin are 1. As a sacred language, it is very powerful and is also often used in exorcisms, 2. Due to the first reason, the devil hates it, so we love Latin even more so. If you haven’t learned any prayers in Latin, let Easter be the time to begin!
Indoor Herb Garden
We love spending time outdoors and especially love to plant a garden each year. Easter is the perfect time of year to start some indoor plants to both excite us for the upcoming planting season and to also show God’s goodness in creating new life. Children love dirt and they especially love to plant tiny seeds in dirt, water them and watch them sprout and grow. Plus, if you, like me, are not fond of creepy crawlers, there are much less bugs when you are dealing with indoor plants than with outdoor plants. Some of our favorite plants are basil, rosemary, oregano, parsley, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers.
Recipes
Our family also uses Easter as a time to bake some special treats and try out new recipes. One of our favorite newest recipes to make is a simple pretzel, chocolate and pecan concoction that we first tried out during Christmastide. It isn’t the healthiest, but they are delicious and are easy even for the younger children to help with. Here’s how:
Charitable Acts
While one of the three pillars of Lent is almsgiving, it is also important to continue to make acts of charity throughout the year and this includes during Eastertide. Around this time of year, we buy socks, toiletries and foods like canned tuna, canned chicken, pasta, rice, beans and peanut butter for local food pantries and nonprofits. Other ideas are to volunteer time at food pantries, nursing homes, crisis pregnancy centers, offer to clean your parish, and more. Talk with your children about ways that they’d like to donate or volunteer their time, talents or treasure. The more children are involved, the more they will continue charitable acts when they are adults.
Non-Candy Idea for Easter Baskets
My husband and I have been on a quest to limit the amount of sugar that our children are consuming. While we still enjoy occasional treats, hence the chocolate, pecan, pretzel recipe, we find that our children feel and behave better when there is lower sugar in their systems.
Here are 40 non-candy items for Easter baskets. The first 20 are non-food items and the following are food related items that can be considered treats but what I like to call “healthy-ish.”
