Skip to main content

Easter 2015: Fun and Faith

Remember Easter?  Once you get back into the regular routine, it quickly seems like a long time ago.  Just in case you need a reminder, here's a quick recap of what we got up to this Easter holidays.  Toby was keen to write down what we were going to do on the whiteboard, like we did last summer.  His writing has improved so much!
 
Easter Holidays.  Tesco, biscuits, boat, Maisie and Poppy [friends]

The weather was variable, to put it mildly:
We floated paper boats in a puddle in the pouring rain.

I learnt how to fold a paper boat!
We made bunting (which was originally going to be flags to fly outside) on a day when it was too windy even to fly a kite.

Not a great picture, I know.  It was an old burp cloth, decorated in pen.
We planted pansies on a lovely warm sunny day.  Theo helped so enthusiastically that he had to be bathed afterwards!

On a more Easter-y note:
We invited the girls next door round to help cut out, bake and decorate Easter cookies.


We sent Toby on two egg hunts - a teddy-bears'-picnic-themed one at Sudbury Hall, and a flower-themed one at Carsington Water.  Don't worry, both finished with a chocolate prize!



We made giant egg decorations for the mantlepiece.



We baked an Easter cake with chocolate nest topping and plenty of mini eggs!

And just in case that all sounds a bit too pagan:

We read Haffertee's First Easter, in which Haffertee, a toy hamster, learns all about Mr Jesus King.

We went to a Good Friday service where Toby enthusiastically flicked red paint at a painting of a cross, Theo played with green balloons, Graham reflected on Jesus' final words and I ripped a piece of cloth in two to remember the tearing of the Temple curtain.  Our church had done an amazing job of creating different experiences relating to aspects of the Easter story.

That's actually Lichfield Cathedral, but it kind of sums up the experience!

We ate hot cross buns for breakfast.

We sang our hearts out on Easter Sunday!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Models of Contextual Theology: Spiritual Formation Book 7

"A theology that neither issues forth in action nor takes account of the way one lives one's life can hardly be theology that is worth very much." Models of Contextual Theology looks like the most boring book in the world. Dry academic title, weird geometric cover design - you'd definitely only pick this up if you were required to write an essay on it, wouldn't you? Well, I wish the outside did it justice, because the contents are much more exciting than the cover. It asks some very interesting and important questions about how our faith relates to the world around us. Is culture mostly good or bad? Is there such a thing as the "naked gospel", free of context? Do you have to be a trained academic to theologize, or can anyone do it? How much does theology from one culture transfer to a different culture? Bevans describes six models of theology which offer different answers to these questions. All are valid, he says, but they all understand the gospel an

A birthday weekend in York

We were surprised to discover that York is only a 90 minute drive from our house. It's somewhere we'd been thinking of going for a few years, but I'd assumed it was much further away. So when we wanted to go away for the weekend to celebrate my birthday in January, York was the obvious choice. The city did not disappoint us. I'd been to York years ago, and my only clear memory was of a tower on top of a grassy mound. That was Clifford's Tower, owned by English Heritage, and recently updated with a rather snazzy series of platforms and staircases inside. We saw a 13th century toilet which had been inaccessible for 400 years (I think I was more excited about this than the boys) and got a great view of York from the rooftop viewing platform. View from the top of Clifford's Tower Most people's memories of York probably involve the Shambles - an ancient street of shops - and York Minster. Apparently there isn't a clear difference between a minster and a cathe

Unto us a son is given...

Did I mention something about life getting back to normal in October? Oh yes, I was just finishing work and looking forward to at least two weeks off to organise the house, stock up the freezer and buy baby stuff. Then little Toby threw a spanner in the works by turning up five weeks early! Which would put his birthday in... let's see... October. So much for normal! For those who would like the gory details, here goes. If you are a mother who had a long and protracted labour, I advise you to skip the next bit - or if you don't, please don't start sending me hate mail. You have been warned. You see, we'd been to all the childbirth classes (yes, just about managed to finish them) and learned all about the different stages of labour, and how many hours each lasted. We learned some relaxation techniques and various things Graham could do to help coach me through long periods of contractions. And then we turned out not to need any of them, because the entire thing