Hell Before Holiday
The day before a holiday can be hell.
It was my first day off in awhile, especially that I was away the week before so I jam packed my Saturday before Easter with things that needed to be done before Easter.
Things like cutting all three boys hair (for Easter pictures)
making a carrot cake (because I always do)
making my great aunt Dees roll dough (tradition)
cleaning the house
getting the Easter baskets put together
hard boiling eggs and coloring eggs with the kids (another Easter tradition)
prepping rolls for hot cross buns for Sunday morning
making resurrection rolls with the boys to teach them about the true meaning of Easter
making a diagram box with cut outs of Jesus, Mary and the tomb
doing a big Easter breakfast with pancakes and bacon Saturday morning because my husband goes to church early Sunday morning.
I couldn’t help but ask myself why?
I love traditions, there have been countless studies on different groups of people who tradition and the strength and root they give to those people.
But when I stop and really ask myself WHY am I doing all the things on the list above?
What I realized was that in our home we talk about Christ everyday. We celebrate his resurrection each and every day.
If I truly want to make Easter morning special I need to simplify so I can remember why we “tradition” in the first place.
The other thing we can ask ourselves is, “Do I want to do this because I WANT to do it?” Or “Do I do it because I feel like I’m SUPPOSED to?”
I personally love to have my boys dress up in matching outfits, it makes my heart happy to see them all matchy matchy. I love gathering around the table and talking about Christs final days with my children. I love having opportunities to teach them more and ask them questions about Easter. That is my WHY.
Traditions are a beautiful, wonderful, sacred thing. But they are NOT effective when we don’t have a good why behind them.
Traditions are powerful when we desire to fulfill them because we understand them and see the benefit and power in our lives.
They are not there to torture us, exhaust us and make us feel bad about ourselves if we don’t do them.
They are a gift to us and our families if they are used in a beautiful and simple way.
Do not “tradition” if you don’t want to.
After the holidays I always like to do a little check in with myself. I ask myself ‘okay what did I like about this year?’ And ‘what could we change for next year, to simplify so I can enjoy my family more?’
Today as I reflect on the Easter weekend I came up with a couple of things. I want to bake less, clean less, do less and enjoy more. Yup. That’s it.
