Since I shared our ambitious plans for Holy Week, I thought I would also share how it actually went! Before you read this and think we are a Super Liturgical Celebrating Family, you should also know that I totally forgot to read scripture on at least three different nights. There were no elaborate symbolic meals or solemn evening masses. I didn't get all the sewing done. But what we did get to worked out really well, and overall I thought it was definitely worth the effort!
(And here's hoping there will be less and less "effort" in subsequent years, as we tweak traditions to make them our own and they become just what we do for Holy Week.)
Palm Sunday (The Triumphant Entry)
Though my husband had (very strong) reservations, our meal turned out well. We had a saute of hearts of palm and shrimp, based very loosely on this remoulade and your basic gumbo recipe. Tasty!
And this hearts of palm dip, which I loved. And since I am somehow the only dip lover in our little family, I got to eat it all week long.
Cheesy cheesy goodness.
Holy Monday (Cleansing of the Temple)
My ambitious cleaning plans for the day were, um, a bit too ambitious apparently. That and I'm lazy. But, even though it took pretty much all week, I did get most of the house cleaned! Not deep cleaned, but good enough.Holy Tuesday (The Two Great Commandments)
We made cookies for the homeless and Miriam came with me to drop them off. That was a bit of a treat, as the drop-off time is always right in the middle of our own dinnertime, so usually one of us just runs them there alone.(An aside: I used to worry about calling them "the homeless" because I don't want her to say that in front of them, so we've taken to calling them "our neighbors." I think it helps drive home the whole "love your neighbor" command.)
Holy Wednesday (The Betrayal)
We didn't really do anything with Judas' betrayal, because we moved our Thursday night plans to this night due to my husband's work schedule. We went out to a Greek restaurant that was much nicer (read: pricier) than I realized it would be... but it was so delicious that I'm totally planning to do it every year!
Afterwards we came home and did a very simple foot washing in our kitchen. Miriam had really been looking forward to it and really enjoyed it, so that's also something I'd like to do annually.
Maundy Thursday (The Last Supper)
We went to morning prayer on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings. I was only so-so on this, so I'm not sure if we'll continue to do it in the future. But since we weren't going to any of the evening masses, I wanted to at least get us to church each day for something.Good Friday (The Crucifixion)
We had a very simple supper of vegetable broth and hot cross buns. I kind of modified some recipes for the buns, and they were not too pretty, but my husband said mine looked like they tasted better than the ones at the store, so I was pretty pleased about that.
See? Ugly. But I have plans to improve them next year.
Holy Saturday
This was the first year we dyed Easter eggs. Honestly I've never been a huge egg-dying fan, but I tried to enjoy it and not worry too much about the dye spilling everywhere. The fact that we hid these instead of plastic ones did redeem it, though, as did the fact that both girls have eaten hard-boiled egg for breakfast every morning since then.
We made Resurrection Rolls that evening before supper, and boy were they a flop. It turns out when you have a three year old help seal the tomb, it doesn't quite get pinched shut and when you pull them out of the oven you see Jesus escaping (the marshmellow oozing instead of disappeared). But they tasted fine, and Miriam got a huge kick out of cutting them open to see the empty tomb on the ones that did work, so we probably will make these a tradition. My mom said she did them in muffin cups and that helped contain the mess, so we may try that next year.
See? More ugly. Who knew Holy Week activities would be such a good source of mortification?
EASTER SUNDAY!
The girls put on their new dresses and hurried to their baskets.
The baskets were filled with books, socks, and a necklace for Miriam and a rosary for Cecilia. At the last minute I decided Miriam should get some sort of edible treats, so I also stuck in a little bag of cashews and some mini summer sausages.
I had planned to wake Miriam up by singing "Alleluia", since we've made a big deal out of not saying it all Lent... but then I was nursing Cecilia and we were in a hurry to get dressed and make it to the 7:00 a.m. mass, so it didn't happen. But we said it all day after that, so we more than made up for that.
We came home to hunt for eggs, then we had time to relax a bit before my family came over to celebrate Easter and Cecilia's first birthday.
The Empty Tomb Cake was cute, but I'll probably stick with a carrot cake next year.
Did you notice the paintings behind the cake? Miriam has only ever brought home smeared paint that didn't represent anything... until a few weeks before Easter, when she started bringing these home and announcing she had painted crosses! We about burst with pride.
Maybe I worry too much about her being in a very secular school environment.
She's a budding little evangelist!
I had done so much talking about how Easter is the very best day of the whole year, so I really wanted to make it seem that way to the girls. I decided the best way I could do that was simply to say yes to everything I possibly could - a day of total indulgence, to give just a glimpse of the extravagant love of God.
That said, my three year old has never had a piece of candy and I didn't intend to start now. (I know it will happen in the probably-not-too-distant future, but it won't be on my watch.)
Believe it or not, I don't think those two sentiments are mutually exclusive. When we indulge our children, I want it to be totally worth it - the absolute best. Candy, while an easy and conventional choice, is not really the supreme indulgence. The cinnamon chocolate cake that my mom made from scratch, on the other hand, is a delicious indulgence. One that I had at least four pieces of.
One of the biggest reasons I like hosting things like this is because we can control the environment. (My dear mother called and asked permission before bringing any other treats, because she knows how anal particular we are. I am so blessed to have a mother who respects our wishes even when she thinks they're overboard!) Because of this, I truly felt able to say yes to everything the girls wanted - yes to a cheese stick before breakfast, yes to seconds on homemade ice cream, yes to still more bread and butter. They certainly felt that it was a special and indulgent day.
But ultimately, as corny as it sounds, what they really wanted more than food was love. So the answer was yes every time Miriam wanted to play outside, even when we didn't really feel like it. And yes to constantly staying by Cecilia's side. Yes, yes, yes, with the occasional alleluia thrown in for good measure!
Happy Easter!