Making Holidays Holy Days

A few years into our marriage, I sat down with a calendar and a pen and asked my husband about his ideas for family traditions on holidays.  I had realized (it took me awhile) that my expectations for quiet days at home did not match his dreams of shared family times doing activities.  I had never really considered how many Fourth of July parades a person might need in his life.

This exercise was a good starting point for discussion and negotiation:  I offered input and made efforts to provide opportunities for his holiday visions to happen, and we were free to evaluate them and revise our plans to accommodate our family's needs.  One year our parade experience was soured by the rude folks who crowded in front of us and left litter all over their parksite; another year, he took the children to the huge downtown parade and one got lost in the crush on the way back to the car -- which put a damper on his enthusiasm for future parade outings.

For St. Patrick's day, Roger's initial idea was to have an all-green meal.  I prepared a pistachio pudding dessert, along with a lettuce salad and green-toned sweet-and-sour chicken over light green rice.  The lemonade was even tinted a yellow-green.  Roger really got into the spirit of the day, helping paint dinner with food coloring drops.  The food tasted just like normal, but when we actually sat down to eat, he was overwhelmed by the visual experience.  Our water pitcher was made of green-tinted plastic and when he poured himself a cleansing glass of water and found the water was faintly colored, he lost interest altogether in the meal!  We have never tried that tradition again, though we talk about it at least once a year.

Over the course of the past couple of decades, Easter has become my husband's favorite holiday.  He likes the fact that it always falls on the Sabbath and that we have the built-in chance to worship.  We have tried to minimize the bunny aspects of the day, focusing as much as we can on the resurrection and atonement of Christ.  We have tried a Mediterranean meal and have had a Passover supper.  Some years we have colored eggs or done activities with extended family; most years we have made or purchased new warm-weather Sunday clothes.  We feel free to modify our plans according to our needs and resources.

Our family egg hunt has usually consisted of jelly beans and small chocolate candies which I have hidden around the family room after church for the children to gather into bowls and deposit into a communal dish on the middle of the floor.  The children have had so much fun with that, the older ones have often made two or three subsequent hunts for their siblings with the leftover candy.  Sometimes it got a little rambunctious and folks got a bit sugar-silly, but it was pleasant to see that nobody wanted the fun to end.

Yesterday, like last Easter, we had the dilemma of what to do, now that everyone is a big kid.  Our two college students are again living at home and the youngest is almost too old for an egg hunt.  As a solution, my husband composed a list of scriptures that highlight the mission of Christ, particularly as it relates to the resurrection; and we prepared an individualized, grass-filled cellophane bag of treats for each person and hid them around the yard.  Some of our family members have difficulties with gluten and some have problems with sugary treats.  We tried to select special items each person could enjoy.
 
Thirteen-year-old Emma helped choose and hide the treats.  Roger kept the others inside, occupied with a game around the table.  We used the same scripture list from last year, and instructed each person that it was a guide, not a requirement, for their study.

Each person was invited to quietly find his bag and then to choose a place to sit and silently read.  Some perched in trees, while others sat on the grass or on the stairs near the house.  The weather cooperated so well last year, people stayed out for more than an hour before returning to the house; this year was a bit cooler, but outdoor study was still pleasant.  We followed with a short meeting, a song and family prayer.

This tradition has truly helped us emphasize the mission of Christ and our gratitude for Him.  It was a nice break from the rest of the day, spent together sharing the words of apostles and prophets at General Conference. 

I had hoped that this would be enough Easter festivities that nobody would feel a need to dye eggs -- especially since we used most of the dye pellets on Friday to color yarn!  Sometime this week, however, the younger boys will still want to use up some of those on-sale eggs as a craft base....

Additional photos from sxc.hu.