Family Communion

Easter is a fun holiday full of chocolate, eggs, bunnies, and pastel colors everywhere. Easter baskets and hunting eggs are fun to be sure but like many parents, I want to know how to teach my kids the true purpose of the holiday. How do you balance the grieving and rejoicing that should come with remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus with fluffy bunnies, coloring eggs, and baskets full of candy?

For me it has been hard to decide how to handle holidays with kids.

Do I hide eggs, give them baskets of candy, and then say, "Don't forget this is about Jesus, too!"

Or do I focus only on the meaning of the holiday and ignore all of the fun and hope my kids don't resent me as they grow because their mother never let them do anything fun?

I've spent a lot of time figuring out the balance for all things in life but especially for holidays with Christian origins, namely Christmas and Easter.

This struggle birthed many ideas for each holiday and this year we were able to successfully implement one of those ideas for Easter.

Sure we went through the Resurrection eggs to tell the story of Jesus' last few days like a lot of families but I wanted to do something that felt more sacred, something that was more intimate. So we started the tradition of taking communion together on Good Friday.

Tonight as a family we read the story of Jesus washing his disciple's feet and of the last supper in our Storybook Bible. This is my favorite kid's Bible for this particular story. Many other children's Bibles skim over the washing of the feet or brush through the meal. This one explains things in a way that makes more sense for younger ones. I look forward to the day that we are able to read straight from the Bible but doing so at the ages my kids are at would be dooming our evening for failure from the start. Keeping a 2 year old engaged is hard enough even with colorful pages and paraphrased stories.

After reading the story we sat and talked with our kids, asked if they have any questions, and then prayed and broke the bread together. 

We then passed around the cup of sparkling grape juice and finished our bread together as a family. 

Considering we have three kids under 6, I would say tonight was a success. Our oldest seemed to absorb the story pretty well. The hands-on aspect of taking communion together seemed to relate well with him and was a fun family experience. I look forward to taking communion together again next year and many years after as my kids grow and change. 

Do you have any fun Easter traditions? I'd love to hear what your family does to celebrate the holiday or ways you've found to help balance fun and tradition. 

Happy Easter!