Birthday Waffles!

*This post has been sponsored by Nielsen-Massey Flavors.  

All views and opinions shared are my own.*

One of our family's birthday traditions is by starting off the day by serving Birthday Waffles and singing Happy Birthday!  You'll want to add these fluffy and sweet Birthday Waffles to your next birthday celebration too.

7 Simple Ways to Celebrate Jesus at Easter as a Family

Easter is this Sunday and while yes, my kids are excited to go on Easter Egg Hunts and have their share of Chocolate Easter Bunnies, they are also excited to go to our church's Maundy Thursday Seder and AGAPE Meals tonight and go through our Resurrection Eggs again.  Here are seven ways we focus on Jesus every Easter at our house.

Attend Lent and Holy Week Church Services

Our family enjoys participating in our church's worships and activities throughout the Lent season to help us all to focus on Jesus.  From Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, there are many learning opportunities for our entire family.

One of my favorite things that our church does is that we have our weekly Lenten services "on the road" after different area nursing homes.  It is very special for our whole family to participate in those church services not only for us, sharing the Lenten message with others in the community, but the residents at the homes love seeing children. 

Lent Calendar

 A couple years ago I picked up a Lent Calendar for our family and for all of our Godchildren.  Each day from Ash Wednesday to Easter there is a simple activity for everyone to do or to talk about.  Things like - Help a friend, brother or sister, Pray for your family, Read 2 Corinthians 13:14, etc.  All of the activities, prayers or scripture readings don't take a lot of time, but it gets the entire family together to focus and celebrate Lent.  We go over the activity every night at supper because that is when we are all together.  Here is a link to a similar calendar and a link to a Holy Week calendar activity.

Resurrection Eggs

We bring out our Resurrection Eggs at the start of Lent every year and go over them periodically throughout the Lenten Season.  We keep them on our coffee table in our living room and our kids love going through them.  If you've never seen or heard of Resurrection Eggs before, it is a set of 12 plastic Easter Eggs that when you open them they have a miniature symbol from Holy Week inside.  There is a book that comes with the set that explains the significance of each object and is great for helping your kids fully understand the story of Easter, as well as opens up discussion about Jesus.

Share the Easter Story

Growing up I will always remember my Grandma sitting down all my sisters, cousins and I to hear the Easter story every year after Easter dinner.  This still takes place, this time with her great-grandchildren, but we also make sure to share the Easter Story through books and movies throughout Lent.  

At the beginning of Lent we bring out all of our Easter books and set them on the coffee table with our Resurrection Eggs.  Some of my kids favorite Easter books are:   The Story of Easter, The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story, Jesus is Alive and My Easter Basket.  My friend MacKenzie of The Hen House also has a great list of Easter books that her family loves that you should check out too (she also has great resources and posts for sharing Jesus with your kids all year long).  We also breakout movies like The Greatest Adventure - The Easter Story and Heaven is for Real during this time of year, and My Farmer and I always watch The Passion of the Christ too.

Resurrection Rolls

We love making Resurrection Rolls with our kids each year.  We usually make them Saturday night before bed and have them as a small breakfast before heading to Sunrise Service at our church (and then we eat the rest of our breakfast at our church's senior high youth breakfast).  The Resurrection Rolls are both tasty and a fun way of sharing the story of Easter.  Jesus is the marshmallow in the rolls, you roll the marshmallow in butter and cinnamon sugar that represent the spices and linen they wrapped Him in, and then you put the marshmallow in a crescent roll which represents the tomb.  After they bake, the marshmallow is gone, to show how Jesus rose from the dead.  You can get the recipe here from Around My Family Table.

Easter Lily Memorial

Every year our family donates an Easter Lily to our church.  Not only does this help decorate our church, but it is a great way to share a memory and talk about our past loved ones who are now in heaven.  We also love to read The Parable of the Lily with our kids when we do this.

Bible Verse Egg Hunt

Our kids love our family's annual Easter Egg Hunt with their cousins after Easter Dinner.  One way we make our hunt more than just candy and spring toys, is in several of their eggs, there is a paper with a Bible verse on it.  The kids either read their Bible verse out loud for everyone to hear or bring it to someone to read it aloud for them.  We also have slips of paper that say things like, tell your Grandma that you love them or give a hug to your Uncle.  Little things to share love on Easter.

Easter and the entire Lent season is the perfect opportunity to not only share the sacrifice of Jesus but the love he has for all of us with our children.  My Farmer and I work hard to teach our children about Jesus and to have our family walk with Him.  Here is a link to 3 Simple Ways we Celebrate Jesus at Christmas that you also might like.

What are some of your Christ-centered Easter traditions?  I'd love to know!  Be sure to Comment for a Cause.

***Full disclosure - all links in this post aren't compensated at all.  My family and I truly just enjoy them and believe they are great ways for all families to celebrate Easter.***

3 Simple Ways to Celebrate Jesus at Christmas

This past Sunday was our Children's Christmas Program at Church.  Mr. K was a shepherd, Miss A was an angel and Miss R got to be Baby Jesus.  It was a cute program where some our church's confirmation students walked through the snow and were lead to the manger.  The program reminded us all to walk with God and that He shows us the way.  My Farmer and I work hard to teach our children about Jesus and to have our family walk with Him.  I thought I'd share three simple ways we focus on Jesus every Christmas at our house.

• Three Gifts - Jesus received three gifts from the Wise Men after His birth, so we honor this by giving all of our children three gifts.  We give them one article of clothing, one book and one toy or activity.  Besides doing this for our kids, I also practice this for our nieces and nephews, and our kids for their birthdays.  It is an easy way to think through gifts, not go overboard, and to keep in mind why we're getting gifts in the first place.

Mr. K opening his three gifts last year at Christmas

• Kid-Friendly Nativity - When My Farmer and I were first married I got a beautiful Willow Tree Nativity set but shortly after we had kids, we started keeping that nativity set stored away and have gotten a kid-friendly nativity set that the kids can play with.  Rather than telling our kids everyday not to touch the nativity, we encourage our kids to play with the nativity to learn more about Jesus's birth story.  We have also given kid-friendly nativity sets to our godchildren once they become toddler age, similar to this one from Fisher-Price:

• Celebrate Jesus's Birthday - Celebrate Christmas the same way you would celebrate anyone else's birthday.  For us, that means starting our day with Birthday Waffles and singing Happy Birthday.  Bring in those birthday traditions into your Christmas traditions to help everyone focus on the reason for the season.

We start our Christmas morning with Birthday Waffles
and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, complete with a candle

So how do you celebrate Jesus at Christmas?  I'd love to learn some more ideas.  Be sure to Comment for a Cause and to remember the Reason for the Season this year.