Easter 2011

In the build-up to Easter AMAZINGLY it wasn't chocolate that was on Bella's mind, but crafts! Kindy and daycare both had her making lots of lovely little things but she still wanted more! So I taught her how to quill and she made these lovely cards pretty much all by herself (I had to tell her the letters for 'easter' and pour the glue into the dish)

She also got out her glitter glue and painted lots of egg pictures so I made a little display with all of the pictures and crafts she had made.

{insert pics of easter crafts}

We also made chocolate nests which is a yearly tradition for us (throwing back to my own childhood which, admittedly, was in the UK where easter is in spring- this is more of a spring recipe than an easter recipe- except for the fact that it uses up lots of chocolate *wink*)

Then came Easter itself.

The Easter Bunny chomped on the carrot that Bella left out for him!!

 Ashley helped find eggs too!

Bella sssessing the collection under Ashley's watchful eye (she might have been only 4 days past her first birthday but she knows when she's being scammed)

Easter dessert... bunnies in the grass. I didn't have squirty-cream or banana (and wasn't facing easter crowds at the shops to get them) so I just used yoghurt for the tails and ears. Another dish from my childhood.

Nearly a month later we *still* have eggs in the fridge!

I always struggle with telling the Easter story- it's a very scary story but at the same time it is the scariness that makes it so significant. I usually run along the lines of:

Jesus lived a very long time ago and was a very kind man who always helped everybody and so everybody loved him. But there was a mean king who got jealous that people did what Jesus said so he had soldiers take Jesus away and lock him in a cave. Jesus' friends cried and cried because Jesus was dead but a few days later Jesus rolled the rock away and walked right out of the cave!

I leave out the torture (crown of thorns, stigmata etc) and the 'dying in our place' stuff because it will only confuse Bella now, she's too young. The other thing I do is draw pictures about the story, sometimes when i'm telling it, sometimes seperately as a way of bringing up the subject casually. It backfired last year though- we talked about the easter story and Bella excitedly said "Yes! Jesus was in a train tunnel" so beware- if you have drawing skills as bad as mine it might not work as well as you'd hope!

Matt feels uncomfortable 'indoctrinating' the girls but I say pffft to that! If we can let her believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy and an anthromorphic bunny rabbit then there's no harm in letting her believe in Jesus! She'll make her own discoveries and decisions later on, by herself.