(this post was delayed hoping to include lots of pictures … however, blogland is not permitting me to upload pictures right now – I know, I’m bummed, too)
In an effort to teach the boys that Easter is more than just bunnies, eggs, and really cute chicks, we’ve done several activities throughout the last week emphasizing the last week of Christ’s life. I did the same thing last year and since Ricky remembered a bunch of it, I think my tactic is working a little bit.
We tromped Jesus into Building-Block-Jerusalem for his Triumphal Entry (toy Yoda riding a chihuahua – I choose not to think of that as sacrilegious) …
We cleansed the temple of the money changers, using a light saber as I’m sure Jesus did …
We learned about “those ladies who wanted to go to the wedding but some of them didn’t bring any oil” from the last discourses on the Mount of Olives …
We talked about the Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane …
And to tie the Crucifiction in with the Resurrection, we made cookies.
(These cookies are nothing I created. I found the recipe on the Internet last year.)
We place pecans in a bag and the boys get to smash them up with wooden spoons after we discuss Jesus being beaten and bruised and treated poorly.
We smell the vinegar like that which was given to Jesus on the cross when he said, “I thirst.”
We taste the salt like the salty tears of Jesus’s loved ones who watched him die on the cross.
We add egg whites because eggs are a symbol of life and Jesus gave his own life so we can have ours forever.
We add sugar which makes all that yucky stuff (vinegar and salt and egg whites) into something wonderful, just like Jesus’ love for us made all his suffering into something wonderful and worthwhile.
Then I whip all the ingredients up, put mounds of meringue on a cookie sheet that we seal in the warmed oven, just like Jesus’ lifeless body was laid in the tomb.
Easter morning we open the oven-tomb and take out hollow meringue cookies that symbolize the tomb being empty and Jesus living again.
It is all very cute and the boys seem to respond to it and they love helping me cook.
I might have to reconsider this for next year though.
While crushing the nuts into bits, Billy was gleefully chanting, “Beat Jesus! Beat Jesus! Beat Jesus!”
I’m pretty sure he understands that isn’t the point of the cookies. Pretty sure.
Happy Easter 2012!