Hopefully for many of us, Easter this year will resemble some of our past celebrations. We know that life changes, so even if you have differences in your celebration this year, hopefully you can grab onto some of those traditions that make Easter be Easter.

For me, Easter is always difficult. My family lives out of state, so I don't get to celebrate with them often. As a church leader in a relatively traditional congregation, Holy Week is insane. We have Maundy Thursday & Good Friday services, Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, and this year we have 3 Easter Services! By the end of the week, I'm pretty much exhausted and don't want to travel! Holy Week and Easter Sunday leaves little time for traditions, but I take them as I grab them. 

Some of my favorite traditions as an adult are:

1) Receiving Easter Egg Candies (Peanut Butter, of course) from my mom. It's an adult form of an Easter Basket! Her church (the church I grew up in)hand make them every year as a fundraiser. They usually start 2 months before Easter just to make enough to fulfill orders! This year, they made 12,000! It reminds me of the love and care put into these eggs, but also into the people in their community, every year.

2) Cinnamon Rolls. I can't exactly remember when I started to make them, but they have been a favorite treat for years. I make mine from scratch using this easy recipe from Williams Sonoma. Yes, there is rising time involved, but I don't find them that difficult. I choose to use a vanilla powdered sugar glaze versus cream cheese, though. (and generally, the orange is left out because I usually don't have any, and I'm not going to buy them just for zest!). 

3) Easter Dinner. Typically, Easter dinners involve showing up to a church member's house starving & exhausted because Easter Sunday is insane. That hot cross bun I had at 8 am wore off ages ago by the time 2pm rolls around! But yet, I love Easter Dinner, Easter Brunch, whatever you might want to call it. I'm not a big ham person, but there are usually things I'll eat! 

4) Easter Egg Hunt. As much work as they are, I actually love our Egg Hunts. I love seeing the kids get so excited over their finds, see their outfits, and generally have fun. We don't get to see that too often!

5) Easter Flower Cross: Our church creates a flower cross on Easter morning. I'm looking forward to this returning this year! It's so much fun to see blossom over the services. 

6) Easter Dress. Now, I don't do this as often anymore, but I always loved shopping for an Easter dress. It was exciting to find something pretty, colorful, and it was new! Now that I wear a robe half the day, it seems like a waste to purchase a new dress every year (and often, my budget doesn't allow it). This year, I'm excited to wear a dress that I haven't fit into in a while. Habits and goals are helping! 

What are your top Easter traditions? Share with us on our socials!