Easter Traditions
Seven Ways to Add Meaning to Your
Family Celebration
by Susie Cortright
Family traditions connect us to past and future generations. They provide
meaning and connection, as well as a sense of ritual and comfort. And they
can create - and help to preserve - some of life's most moving moments.
Easter traditions can help to usher in a season of love,
rejuvenation, and abundance. Here are seven ideas for sharing the sweetness
of this special season:
- Start a kindness wreath for your doorway. For the week of
Easter, give each family member 10 or more ribbons in bright spring colors.
Each time a family member reaches out to someone in kindness during the
week, they simply tie another ribbon onto the wreath.
- Ask your children to make a special drawing or a collage
that depicts what Easter means for them. After you display them during the
Easter season, scan them or take a photo and record the artwork in a special
journal or album for a treasured Easter keepsake.
- Create a Garden Journal. Cover a composition book with
spring patterned papers or photos/clippings of your favorite flowers.
Document the process of creating your family garden this year. Make sure to
include photos of your family members digging in the dirt. Record their
favorite flowers and their favorite part of working in the garden...and, of
course, lots of journaling and flower pressings.
- Fill an Easter basket with cheerful messages, handmade
cards, or simple gifts. Then leave the basket anonymously on a friend's
doorstep.
- If you have young children, video- or audio-tape them
singing a fun seasonal song. Tapes of "Here comes peter cottontail" and
"Little Bunny Foo Foo" can make treasured mementos. Share the tapes with
distant family and friends.
- When it's time for your Easter brunch or Easter dinner,
give each guest a 6x6 sheet of cardstock and ask them to handwrite a couple
of special messages for the holiday...perhaps ways they are feeling renewed
or grateful in their lives. Snap a photo of each guest and create a quick
and simple 6x6 mini-album as a keepsake featuring one page for each guest
(with their photo and contribution.)
- Make some handmade Easter greeting cards to send to family
and friends. Or renew friendships by being a hostess for a card-making party
where each guest makes 5 to 10 friendship cards. Make a point to send out
five cards this spring to people with whom you would like to rejuvenate a
relationship.
This holiday, may you embrace and celebrate the beauty that
comes into our lives through our family and friends. (And enjoy lots of
chocolate!)
Susie Cortright is the founder of momscape.com -
http://www.momscape.com and Momscape's
Scrapbooking Playground -
http://www.momscape.com/scrapbooking - devoted to helping visitors
record and preserve their cherished memories. Susie also trains and supports
new scrapbooking instructors with a new and rapidly- growing direct sales
scrapbooking company. Find out how to join her team here:
http://www.momscape.com/scrapbooking/consultant