Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3 ESV

This year we celebrated Easter. Of course, we’ve always observed Easter by attending church on Resurrection Sunday and wishing each other a “Happy Easter!” We’ve even done egg hunts, new clothes, and potluck dinners over the years. But this year we were more purposeful. And we partied. We partied because Christ is risen from the dead! And that’s worth celebrating.

Easter is about life.

Eternal life. Life in Christ. New life. Abundant life right now through the Spirit. Life on earth. Life to come in heaven. Christ’s righteous life in our place. Christ’s coming back to life, announcing that God accepted His payment on the cross for our sins.

Our living hope is a Person, and His name is Jesus.

The Easter party started early with Easter buckets from the Floreses on Palm Sunday. The kids got all sorts of candy, toys, and clothes. The boys’ favorites were the mini paratrooper action figures. Later in the week, Connie and David delivered Easter baskets filled with bubbles and chocolate and love for our three kids.

Every party needs decorations, so the kids and I shopped Hobby Lobby in search of some Easter decor centered on Christ. I was happy to find a “He is Risen” banner, a wooden sign with the quote, “He has risen indeed,” and a set of Resurrection Eggs. Walmart had an egg centerpiece that I thought would tie in nicely too.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the idea of Resurrection Eggs (like I was), they are a countdown to Easter with one egg to be opened each of the 12 days. (There’s no significance to the number 12 except that eggs come in dozens.) Inside each egg is a trinket that helped us teach the kids the story of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. For example: a donkey for Christ’s triumphal entry on Palm Sunday, a cup for the Last Supper, a crown of thorns, and a stone for the tomb, etc.

{You can definitely make your own Resurrection Eggs, but this set was on sale and was better than I could have come up with on my own. The accompanying booklet from Family Life is helpful, but I recommend it with one caveat. When the booklet said that “The Bible tells us that Jesus was stronger than any man” (p.16), we skipped that part. The book’s point was that Jesus had the power to stop His own crucifixion (which of course He could have since He is God), but Philippians 2:7 teaches that Jesus “emptied himself…being born in the likeness of men.” Though still fully God, Jesus was not a human with Superman-like strength.}

On Easter morning, we opened the last egg. It was empty because the tomb is empty. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! We sang the Resurrection Hymn together. Then came church, a fellowship dinner, and an Easter egg hunt at the church house, and watching It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

Decorated hard boiled eggs and plastic eggs were hidden for the hunt at the church property. Cooper figured out that plastic eggs were a lot more fun, so he went straight for those. He picked up only one hard boiled egg, and that was only by mistake! Silas decided he wanted to find only the eggs that were actually hidden. No picking up eggs lying on the grass for him. Brynn watched from her blanket on the grass.

This was the second of our egg hunts this year. The Friday afternoon before Easter was the annual MOMS Club egg hunt. It was at a new park this year, so the kids enjoyed exploring the new playground equipment while the eggs were “hidden.” After the hunt, we invited Kristy and her three boys over to dye eggs with us. It was the first time I had ever colored Easter eggs, and a first for Cooper and Silas too. I read the story of Christ’s death and resurrection to the kids while Kristy prepped the egg-dying kits.

We colored a dozen eggs for each family. Silas and Cooper were really interested at first. After a while Silas just wanted to play with friends, but Cooper stuck with it a little longer. It did take some time since the eggs had to sit in the dye for a few minutes, and we had to take turns with friends. I thought it was great!

I’m learning that while Christmas is amazingly special, it’s just the beginning of the story. Easter is the party time that calls for some big celebration.

But, really, Easter is a beginning of its own too. One day we’ll party forever with Christ as we treasure Him Who is our Life.