Easter Egg School Lunch

I love holidays and I love family traditions.  I think having traditions to go along with holidays helps build nice memories for children.

Easter is such a sad yet joyful holiday.  Sad because Jesus died but joyful because he died and rose from the dead for mankind!  We try and emphasize the Christian reason for holidays but we also let Blue Rock enjoy some of our culture's traditions such as going on an Easter hunt and finding an Easter basket with some goodies on Easter morning.

I read somewhere about surprising your child with a candy filled plastic Easter egg in their lunch box.  I thought, what a wonderful and genius idea!  However, why only put candy when you can put their whole lunch in the eggs?  Blue Rock LOVES plastic and pretend eggs.  So I knew he'd love this!  I washed the Easter eggs, cut up some ham, cheese, carrots, washed grapes, and added cheddar bunnies, and some dark chocolate almonds (for his candy).  You can add anything your child likes that can fit in an egg.  I wrapped them in surround wrap (you could just put them in a clean egg) and placed the little baggies in different Easter eggs for Blue Rock's lunch.  To make it extra fun I added a little green grass.  He was very excited watching me make his lunch.  I think he's going to love it!

Easter Morning

Today was great.  Our church service was wonderful and we are enjoying the sunshine.  

Der Osterhase (the Easter Bunny) came and left my son some nice goodies.  He left some colorful eggs in the nest we made him out of shredded paper.  My baby's Easter basket was filled with a stuffed bunny, baby carrots, baby treats, and three books: Little Bunny, Little Duck, and a German Easter board book.  We also had a little Easter egg hunt for him to go on in our living room.  He enjoyed the day.

Here are a few pictures.

Der Osterhase's nest and basket

 After my son went through everything

Our neighbor's Easter tree

Der Osterhase, the original Easter Bunny

Easter is such a wonderful and important Christian holiday as we remember the resurrection of Christ.  Along with the resurrection many people celebrate in other ways too.  Because this is my son's first Easter, I decided to do some research to see how Germans celebrate this day, particularly in regards to their children.  In the States children line up at the mall to talk to the Easter Bunny much like they do Santa Claus.  They also have Easter egg hunts and parades.  In Deutschland you will find neither the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus at the mall.  However, many children decorate eggs and have Easter egg hunts.

Interestingly, the tradition of the Easter Bunny or Easter Hare originated in Germany.  Der Osterhase or Oschter Haws was the first white Easter Hare and was first recorded in Germany in the 1500s.  Der Osterhase didn't come to the United States until the 1700s.  It wasn't until the 20th century that the Easter Hare became known as the Easter Rabbit and then later the Easter Bunny.

Children traditionally designed nests the night before Easter for der Osterhase from their caps and bonnets and would leave them outside in a safe place, often close to the barn for Osterhase to find.  Der Osterhase would leave colorful eggs inside their nests while the children were sleeping.

Since we are living in Germany, we decided that tonight we will follow the German tradition and make der Osterhase a nest. We will find out in the morning what he leaves us.