Easter Traditions (Challah Bread from Tori Avey)

Lots of ideas for an Easter Feast below!

First time making Challah traditional Jewish bread. I used the recipe from Tori Avey with raisins. It was delicious and looked very pretty on our table. Or you could do regular dinner rolls. 

For dinner, to go with the bread above, we also had green vegetables (do green beans, broccoli, asparagus, spinach salad, or any green salad), fruit salad, cheesy au gratin potatoes, and ham. An appetizer could be deviled eggs, homemade marshmallows, or any favorite appetizer.

For dessert, this dinner goes good with lemon bars (or Magnolia lemon pie), carrot cake, coconut cake, or a dark chocolate cake with white frosting.

*I'm not actually a real fan of ham. Working on an Easter tradition I love better. I love a Middle-Eastern feast (like below) SO MUCH!  

But you could also do lamb, or slow-cooker pork chops, or a smoky grilled pork tenderloin, or maple glazed pork tenderloin, or chicken cordon bleu with mashed potatoes and white gravy.

My favorite Easter candy would probably be Jordan Almonds, and second, these Cadbury milk chocolate mini eggs! You needed to know that. I shouldn't eat either one though because of my jaw!

HOSANNA- Gift of resurrection and atonement. 

Ideas for Easter

Day 1 John 12:12-19, Matthew 21, -tomorrow is Palm Sunday- take a branch off your tree (or palm leaves) and display it in your home to show your love for Jesus as he enters Jerusalem

Day 2 Jesus arrested, tortured, mocked, forced to carry the cross, (and here we meet Simon). We don't know anything about who he is, he was just passing by and was compelled to carry the cross of Jesus.  Mark 15:21. Carry a burden for someone we don't know. Think of someone in great need and what our family could do for them. Tie a string of jute or yarn around our wrists for the week to be thinking of helping others all week. 

Day 3 Joseph, after Jesus' death, asks for the body. Nicodemus helps prepare the body before the sun goes down for the Sabbath, John 19:39, 41. Every time we prepare the sacrament, it's like preparing the body of Jesus. Ponder our gratitude for the sacrifice of Jesus and think what we can sacrifice, what we can bring to the table. Joseph and Nicodemus bring their finest. How could we bring our finest? Write on a piece of paper what the sacrifice of Jesus means to me. Write, 'because of this sacrifice, I will bring my finest to whatever I do for the Lord'. Then fold up and put in an Easter egg, and hang the eggs on the branches brought in on day one. 

Day 4 Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb, John 20, Jesus meets us where we are. He comes to us in the middle of our story and he comes to us as what we need. For Moses he came as a pillar fire, for Joshua as the captain of the host, for Peter he came as a lifeguard, woman at the well, Lazarus at his tomb, daughter of Jairus in her room, the criminal on the cross, for his mother he came as a maker of wine, and for Mary he came as a gardener. Our story began with a woman in a garden (Eve), and now again, the first person he comes to is a woman in a garden. A gardener watches over and tends the plants. He will continue to watch over her. Consider her history. (In Serbia long ago, belief in Jesus Christ wasn't allowed, but one night a year they would die Easter eggs red (with onion skins) and rubbed with olive oil once dry. 

And the grandmother would bear her testimony to her kids. Then they would go out in the neighborhood and trade eggs with their neighbors saying "He is Risen", and "He is risen indeed". Invite your grandmother, or someone to bear their testimony of Jesus Christ.

Day 5 Road to Emmaus, Luke 24:16-32, they didn't know him. (story of David and Goliath, taunting the army of Israel, 1 Samuel 17:29 Is there not a cause? He was anointed beforehand, just like Christ had been before the atonement. Goliath wasn't too big for him, and the atonement wasn't too big for Christ. The cause is US. For the joy that was set before me, I endured the cross (Hebrews)). Write a favorite scripture of your own on a little piece of paper with the reference and hand from the branches too.

Day 6 Thomas, John 11:16, he wasn't doubting always. John 20:26, for 8 days he was left out of that seeing of Jesus. Why didn't I get the miracle? John 20:25 emotion, pain, hurt, and heartache. John 20:26 Then. Came. Jesus. We are each going to have moments of doubt and pain and heartache, but through faith we can also be with Him in our trials and he can come to us. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet believe. Hoping is never in vain. Because of Jesus, there can always be hope. Display lilies (the white-robed apostles of hope) like Thomas. Any white flower can work. 

Day 7 Our testimonies. He descended below all of us to lift us. D&C 122:8-9. The tomb is empty. He is not here, He is risen. Mary Magdalene thought all hope was lost when she saw his body gone. But then she heard his voice. Nothing hard about life has to be permanent. He brings to us a new story. Hope came with Easter morning. Write down your testimony for your kids of what I am certain of.