Our Resurrection Eggs!

I am so proud of my little Aaron-man. Last year we made some homemade resurrection eggs, and we've been playing with them this week. It's one dozen Easter eggs, each with some item in it representing stories surrounding Holy Week and Easter weekend. Aaron has each of the stories memorized. Of course at age 3 1/2, he doesn't really grasp the weight of what happened that week and that Friday, but he gets all excited when we get to the last (empty) egg and he says "the tomb was EMPTY!"

Here's a run down of our eggs--there are other stories I could have chosen but these are the ones I picked when I made the eggs last year.

1. Leaves, which represent the palm branches the people waved at Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. Aaron always says "Hosanna! Jesus is coming!"

2. A cotton ball with perfume on it. This represents the perfume that Mary poured on Jesus's feet, and then she wiped his feet with her hair. I explain to him that Mary was anointing Jesus, which means she was telling people that he was a special person.

3. A piece of bread, representing the bread Jesus ate with his friends at the last supper. I'm teaching Aaron to say "This is my body which is broken for you."

4. A quarter--Aaron says "Judas!". Aaron is learning that Judas betrayed Jesus and got 30 silver coins. He told me tonight that Judas got 30 quarters. :-)

5. A piece of purple cloth, which represents the purple robe they put on Jesus after they beat him.

6. Some thorny branches, which Aaron will tell you they made into a crown and put on Jesus's head. At first he thought that was a good thing, and then I told him the thorns were really big and it actually hurt Jesus.

7. A cross, representing the big, heavy, wooden cross they made Jesus carry.

8. Two dice, which represent the "game" the soldiers played, and the winner got Jesus's clothes.

9. Nails, to remind us that Jesus was nailed to the cross, through his hands and feet.

10. A piece of sponge, which represents the story of Jesus becoming thirsty on the cross. I ask Aaron, "Did they give him some yummy water?" He says "No! Yucky vinegar!"

11. A rock, which they put over Jesus's tomb after He died. "So no one could get in, and no one could get out," Aaron says.

12. A empty egg, reminding us that Jesus DID get out! He rose again on Sunday morning!