Trick or Treat then...Saint Swap!

Let's face it. Parents of young children really only trick or treat to get some candy for themselves. There, I said it. You know it's true. I don't know a single parent who is letting their one year old devour a bucket of candy.

As they get a little older, say three, for example, the dilemma hits. How much candy is ok? Do I really want her to have her whole bucket? (Heck no.) Do I really want to be that mom who still doesn't let her have any of her treats? (Probably not.) How do I steal her candy from her when she knows now that she has a whole bucket full?!?

Then I saw this on Facebook: The Switch Witch -

While it is rather genius, the Hubs and I were both a little reticent to use a witch to steal candy from our children. And that is how the Saint Swap was born. It isn't so much us stealing their candy as it is them offering up their sweet things to get something even sweeter from a saint. The details are still sketchy, but here is how it goes:

Now we just need to pick a few saints who are leaving the kids some blessings (and figure out what those blessings will be!)...

Happy All Hallows' Eve to one and all!

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Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

I was reading a friend's status on Facebook yesterday, which read something like he and a coworker were talking about their weekends, and it came up that the coworker enjoyed celebrating Easter with his family. My friend expressed his disappointment that Easter to that coworker was just an egg hunt and good meal. No Jesus risen. 

That got me thinking this morning, and really throughout the day. I want to sit with Li'l G and do some Easter crafts, and I have been tremendously looking forward to an Easter egg hunt in our backyard the day before. What am I doing, though, that connects for her, inseparably, the feast of Easter and the resurrection of Christ. Sure, I could call the Easter eggs Resurrection Eggs. Yes, we could build our own Calvary out of Popsicle sticks. What traditions, though, could we begin to establish in our own family that will etch on her heart the true miracle and joy of Easter? 

Certainly without Good Friday there is no Easter, and we will impress that upon her at an older age. For now I want her to be filled with wonder, not at the candy, but at the sacrifice Jesus makes for us and the utter miraculous and inexplicable joy when the tomb is found empty. I realize it will take years for her to fully grasp that concept. If we are honest, I'm not sure any of us have fully come to understand its meaning and implication in our lives. Right now, what I want to do is be thoughtful about what traditions we begin to establish and what nugget of Truth with a capital "T" these traditions will convey. 

As I've started looking into the tradition of the Easter Egg, I'm not sure what I think. I understand the origin, but as we neither stain the eggs red to symbolize the shedding of Christ's blood and then the new life that comes (the egg), or fast from eggs and dairy during Lent in our culture, I'm not sure there is as much symbolism as there is craft and candy. We could always revive that old tradition and stick with red while indulging my artsy side. That is certainly a thought. Maybe we will have an egg hunt with empty eggs to symbolize the empty tomb (won't my kids love me?). Or maybe we will fill those plastic eggs with Scripture and a puzzle on where to find the candy that is related to the great message of joy and redemption of the resurrection. My brain is still spinning around this one.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Traditions you have that you want to share?? I'm listening!! 

And yes, I still have the bunny ears....