Easter with the Zahasky's

The Zahasky family celebrated Easter a bit early this year, so we could have a more restful Sunday (and so Quinn and I could go see my huge extended family as well!), so our celebration happened on Friday!

It started with Abigail and I walking up the road with our faithful trugs in hand to fetch more blueberry brush for a new egg tree!

This pretty church egg was painted by Melissa, isn't it lovely?

Paul and Quinn were busy working that morning, so Abby, Melissa and I got the house ready for our Easter party!

We used Melissa's favorite dishes (that she's never used before!).

Melissa had been up late the previous night putting together a lovely tablescape. 

These flower arrangements are her own creation! 

Abigail and I helped Melissa in the kitchen (though she did leave us near the end with clear instructions to NOT look outside while she happily skipped around hiding eggs for us to find later), and soon, Paul and Quinn were home and we were ready for the festivities to begin. 

But first some important things needed to be done:

Against an old stump in the backyard, Quinn and I had secretly put together a little place to remind everyone what the day was really about.

Three crosses were made from willow branches and stood as a reminder of Jesus's crucifixion.

As the family stood around the crosses, I read the story of Jesus dying for the sins of the world.

 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Luke 23: 34

Thankfully, that wasn't the end of the story. As I finished reading, I handed the Bible to Quinn and we walked the family to the other side of the stump.

A cave was there, with a big stone having been rolled away from the entrance. Candles were lit all around, and a white sheet was all that was left in the opening.

Jesus had Risen!

Quinn read the exciting news to all of us:

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” Then they remembered his words.

Luke 24: 1-8

After we prayed and thanked God for the miracle of Easter, we headed inside the house to share communion as a family and pray again.

Quinn's stomach may have been growling the whole time though! Hardly any of us had had any lunch or breakfast that day with all the preparations that needed to be done and we were hungry! 

But as the food was carefully put in the oven to bake, the Easter egg hunt began!!!

Everyone chose different ways to gather their brightly colored eggs:

I used my trug,

Quinn used a straining spoon he grabbed from the kitchen in his excitement to start,

and Abigail used her apron pockets!

While we hunted, Melissa walked around with Paul watching us and laughing when we excitedly found one she had hidden well.

She also pointed out a few eggs for Paul (I think because she wanted the chocolate truffles inside for herself)...

An amazing time was had by all!

But the best part was still yet to come...

dinner!

As we counted our eggs and found the sparkling wrappers of truffles and brightly colored jelly beans inside, Paul had turned on the grill was busy getting food ready!

Quinn really enjoyed his egg-collecting method, though he says it did get rather hard near the end from too many eggs having to be balanced on top!

Cedar was happy to have everyone outside running around the yard. She also liked us yelling and telling her to chase away the ravens who easily found our hidden Easter eggs and went after the candy inside...

However, she did not like being cuddled so fiercely by Quinn!

Yummmmm!

...it was almost time to eat!

Because we had all been so hungry, after dinner we couldn't imagine eating another piece of Easter candy. But as we were all getting up to start cleaning dishes, Melissa said to Abby, "Go upstairs and get the dessert!" 

We were all a bit surprised! We didn't think we had any room left for a yummy dessert. but as Abigail climbed the stairs, a shout of surprise and joy resounded, and I went right up the stairs after her.

The sight that met our eyes was like a fairy tale! Melissa had put together Easter baskets for all of us, even Paul! 

They were overflowing with candy, and with pretty ribbons and pussy willow and flowers, it was hard to take them all in at once!

Along with all the chocolate, Quinn found strawberry plants for planting and books on how to build Hobbit holes in his Easter basket (something he's been very interested in).

Paul found garden plants in his as well, plus a white chocolate Easter bunny, that Quinn and Abby were a bit envious of!

Nestled in among a vase of flowers, Abigail and I were delighted to find Madame Alexander dolls in each of our baskets! 

Abigail was given Heidi (along with the classic which she had never read) and I was given a doll named Degas, after the famous painter. 

As I pulled my doll our of my basket, Abby excitedly said, "Mom, you have one just like that!" and it was true! Melissa then shared the sweet story about how she came to love her own first Madame Alexander doll.

When she was young, there weren't big stores in Juneau to buy things like presents. Everything had to be ordered through something like a Sears catalog. One Christmas, because of bad weather or something else, the Christmas presents had not yet arrived by Christmas Eve, and Melissa's mother had nothing to give Melissa for Christmas the next day.

Her mother went to a local drug store and they just happened to have the doll you see above! Melissa was so excited about her present that Christmas, and she now says that she really was lucky, as nothing so nice as a Madame Alexander doll was sold in the catalogs! 

We spent the rest of our Easter eating candy and relaxing on the couch. 

Abigail and I played with our dolls (you're never too old!) and Quinn made plans for building his own Hobbit hole.

We hope you had a happy Easter, we sure did!