The Last Supper

Last night I was at a friends' house when her husband asked me what our family had planned for the evening.  I responded "We're having the last supper"  He pretty much looked at me like I was a nutcase and then said "really?"  Yes, really.  We are really having the last supper.  After a short explanation (afterwhich I think he still might have thought we were slightly crazy) we went home and proceeded with the evening.  It was so much fun and such a memorable experience for our family that I wished that everyone could enjoy having this tradition together.
So, here it is.  The last supper.  On the Thursday before Easter it is written in the bible that Jesus gathered with his apostles to celebrate the feast of the passover and his last supper with them. He introduced the sacrament and then later suffered in Gethsemane.  This is a very meaningful and important day in the life of our Savior and therefore very significant to us also.  So, on this night we prepare a semi-traditional passover feast.  We eat on the floor as they would have during biblical times.  We turn out the lights and use candles.  We even use old sheets and tablecloths to make outfits that resemble biblical attire.  And together we go back in time and imagine what it might have been like to be there at that last supper. The kids ask questions.  We read the account from the Bible.  And we all come away with new perpective. 

Here is what we ate for our feast this year:

UNLEAVENED BREAD

This was really fun and easy to make.  The kids helped me. We just bought a can of Jerusalem Matzo Meal at the grocery store and followed the recipe on the package for unleavened rolls. They baked for 50 minutes and went from this:

to this:

  BITTER HERBS and ROASTED EGGS

The "Bitter Herbs" that we used were romaine lettuce and horseradish.  The horseradish was make you cry strong so the kids just ate the lettuce. 

Roasted eggs are so easy. 

 Put them in a pan in a cold oven and turn it on 200 degrees for 90 minutes. 

 Then turn the temperature up to 300 degrees for 30 more minutes. 

When the eggs start getting brown spots on the outside they are done.

HAROSET

Haroset is basically just a fruit and nut mixture with grape juice and cinnamon mixed in.  In our Haroset we used:

Apples (chopped into small chunks)

Raisins

Walnuts

Grape Juice

Cinnamon

Dates (Those are dates on the side)

BROILED FISH

Okay, I know, they usually eat lamb for passover. But really, my children won't eat it.  So, since they talk about broiled fish and honeycomb in the scriptures we broil some salmon with dill, lemon juice, olive oil, and honey.  It actually turned out quite tasty and the kids were at least willing to eat a little.

DRINK: GRAPE JUICE

No picture for this one but we have apparently made it part of the tradition that one child must spill grape juice on the floor at the last supper every year. Last year I finally learned my lesson and decided we will never again eat near a carpeted area.  We set up our dinner mat on the floor in the dining area.

And here's what the feast looked like:

And you can

CLICK HERE

to view a PDF of our Last Supper Plans

 including the scripture references for the reading that we did and also some of the discussion questions that we had.

A Christ Centered Easter

I love Christmas, with all it's whimsy and joy and gift giving. I love Thanksgiving, with the delicious feast and the cool weather.  I love the kids' birthdays and the fourth of July.  But my favorite holiday is Easter.   Some people think that's a little strange considering that Easter is usually marked by bunnies and baskets and candies.  Some people feel like it has no real significance in their family.  That's pretty much how I used to feel.

Of course I knew about the meaning of Easter but what we were doing as a family to acknowledge the sacred and significant gift of the atonement and ressurection of Jesus Christ?  It just seemed like what we were doing was so trivial considering the grandeur of what we were supposed to be remembering.  So, we decided to change our Easter into something with some meaning.  And now, we spend our Easter week learning about Jesus and walking ourselves through the last week of his life.  And unlike Christmas, Easter is so relaxing for us.  There is no pressure to buy gifts or overschedule yourself with events. It doesn't cost too much money, and we aren't exhausted when it's over.  But we are refocused and drawn together as a family. So, with all of that in mind I thought I would share some of what we do for Easter and hope that you can enjoy it too.
  I got a good part of what we do from this book:

A Christ-Centered Easter: Day-By-Day Activities to Celebrate Easter Week
I definately reccomend it!  It totally inspired me and made me look at Easter in a whole new way.  We start on Palm Sunday and here is what we generally do.  You can click on each day for details.

Palm Sunday: Make palm leaves, learn about the significance of Palm Sunday and then do a mini reenactment of what happened on that day with the palm leaves.

Monday:We have a fun family night full of activities that teach us about the miracles that Jesus performed. 






Tuesday: There are lots of ideas in the book for Tuesday and Wednesday but for us these days are very low key.  We try to read some of Christ's teachings or maybe talk about parables and then make up our own parables (which has been fun on the years that we chose to do it)

Wednesday: see Tuesday :)

Thursday:

The last supper...one of my favorites (can I have a few favorites?)  Our family has really had some great moments together during our last supper meals.  It's something we all look forward to.

Click HERE to view plans for the Last Supper

Friday: Read about the trial and crucifiction of Jesus.  Let the kids feel the sharpness of a nail on their hand and taste vinegar and talk about how Jesus must have felt to be treated that way by people that he loved and had given so much for.  We conclude this night a little sad thinking about how Jesus was gone.

Saturday: One of my other favorites.  (I can have a few remember?) EMPTY TOMB ROLLS.  My kids love this.  We make the rolls before we go to bed and in the morning we have a great surprise for breakfast!  You have to do this one.

Sunday: Hunt for the True Meaning of Easter.  The kids wake up to a letter from the Easter Bunny explaining that they will go on a hunt to find the true meaning of Easter.  At the end of their hunt will be their Easter baskets.