Easter is our celebration of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. That’s what my family focuses on. But we also really enjoy our Easter Egg Hunt.
On Easter weekend, we remember what Jesus has done for us. It looked a bit different this year and last compared to most normal years. After canceling in-person services last year, we did meet this year, and it was a celebration! Our church offers an additional early service that we usually attend. In years past we have afterwards picked up breakfast burritos and walked around our botanical gardens before returning home for a family lunch. We have also traditionally done Easter egg hunts for the kids. Various candy in plastic eggs, “hidden” around the house and yard. It was age appropriate and they liked it. Last year, we changed things up.
When I was little, growing up in a non-Christian home, the Easter egg hunt was all we had. And living in relatively small apartments, hiding spots were limited. So we’d get up in the morning and find chocolate eggs in the corners of rooms and behind potted plants. “Hunt” is a generous description; more like “harvest”. One year, that all changed. One year, we got up in the mornings only to find … nothing at all. We were perplexed. The day before we colored 30 hard-boiled eggs; where had they gone? With a twinkle in his eye, my dad said the Easter Bunny thought we were too old for the harvest now. The hunt was on. The fact that this memory is so vivid in my mind shows how much fun it was.
I wanted my kids to have the same experience. With everything else closed, and motivated by my childhood experience, we organized a scavenger hunt around the house. The cover photo shows a few of the hints I hid inside books and behind photos. I erred on the difficult side, knowing I could always give a hint or two, but I underestimated these kids. Only the first clue offered the slightest challenge; they breezed through the rest. The last step—arranging all the highlighted letters to spell out the solution—took the longest, but I was impressed and vowed to dial up the difficulty for next year. They greatly enjoyed it and we loved watching the gears turn and the look of realization on their faces when they figured out a hint.
Easter is about Christ; we make sure that remains the focus. But we enjoy some of the other, cultural aspects of it, too.