This was the 1st year that Joseph was able to hunt for eggs.  Last year I had planned to do an egg hunt with him, but William was born on Good Friday and all of my Easter celebration plans went by the wayside.  So I spent some time during Lent this year finishing my homemade Catholic version of Resurrection eggs and Easter morning after Mass, Joseph hunted for the eggs…

If you’ve never seen Resurrection eggs, it’s a really neat idea.  Basically you take 12 plastic eggs, number them and you choose 12 of the main events of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending with, of course, the resurrection.  Then you put a symbol of each event into the corresponding egg.  Here’s what I chose:

1: Jesus enters Jerusalem…a piece of a palm branch

2:  Jesus washes his disciples’ feet…a piece of a towel

3:  The Last Supper…a piece of bread

4:  The Agony in the Garden and Judas Betrays Jesus…a prayer and some coins

5:  Jesus is Questioned by Pilate…King of the Jews sign

6:  The Soliders Mock Jesus…a purple cloth and a thorn

7:  The Scourging at the Pillar and Pilate Condemns Jesus to Death…a rope

8:   The Way of the Cross…a small cross

9:  Jesus is crucified…a nail

10:  Jesus dies…dice (for when the soldiers cast lots)

11:  The Burial of Jesus…a rock

12:  The Resurrection…I left this one empty to represent the empty tomb on Easter morning

Then on Easter morning, you bury the eggs.  The kids hunt for the eggs, but they don’t open them until all of the eggs have been found.  Once all 12 eggs are found, together you open them one by one, telling the story as you go.  I simply found a picture of each event, mounted it on cardstock with the title of the event and laminated them.  The pictures helped me tell the story, but the lack of words on each page allow me the luxury of adapting the story from year to year based on age range (good thinking, huh?)  Joseph LOVED it!  Definitely worth the time and effort to make them and certainly a tradition we’ll continue!