Easter

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

I love Easter. It's jam-packed with memories of my family's traditions: dying eggs, Easter lilies perfuming the house, colorful new Easter outfits, corsages from Daddy, groggy in the inky dark to drive up Sugarloaf for the sunrise service, big church service, usually a family duet or special music of some sort, Easter baskets, huge Easter dinner, and crashing onto the couches by mid-afternoon. 

How wonderful to take elements of our families' traditions, blend them, and add our own!

Monkey Bread, now an Easter classic. 

I started it the night before, then did the second rise in the fridge overnight. (We skipped the cream cheese glaze.) Daniel baked it at 4am and we were off to the sunrise service at Red Rocks.

We decided, for sanity's sake, to choose one church service to attend. We went with the sunrise service at Red Rocks Amphitheater. As you can see, it's a pretty phenomenal spot for a sunrise service. We went two years ago and loved it.

 The bad news is that we left too late and got stuck in horrible traffic. We could see the amphitheater all lit up and could even hear wisps of music, but it took us over 45 minutes just to get up the hill and park! By the time we reached the top, there were no seats and the service was halfway over. It was frustrating, but we made the best of it. We found a perch outside the amphitheater and enjoyed the music, our monkey bread and hot drinks, and the glorious sunrise over the valley.

 There's something so magical about a sunrise, especially on Easter morning.

 The Easter Bunny must have sneaked into our house while we were at church.

 Even Daniel got a chocolate treat, courtesy of Grandma Easter Bunny.

After some naps (or attempted naps), we pulled ourselves together to start cooking. Here we are ready to enjoy appetizers in the backyard. It got into the 70s! On the menu: pea crostini, artichokes, lemonade for the kids, and grapefruit vieux mot for the grown-ups.

 

 Daniel and the kids made three wooden candlesticks. We blew out the candles to symbolize the three days that Jesus lay in the tomb and lit them again to help us think about the Resurrection. (Not an easy concept for children or adults, to my mind.) Skylar's dads are Jewish, and she sang the Four Questions in Hebrew, which was so beautiful. We talked about Passover and how Christians believe Jesus is our Passover Lamb.

Terrible photo, but you get the idea. See the kids' cute Easter poster on the wall? We had a delicious ham, celery root puree, green beans, salad, and biscuits. 

Strawberry Pavlova for dessert.

Remember what I said about couches?

 Happy Easter!