What's Going in The Easter Baskets.

Growing up we always celebrated Easter. ALWAYS. What is so special to me is that my mom always made sure that the things that were in our baskets, or the hunts that we did, were always symbolic of what Easter was really about: Christ's death and resurrection. This will be the first year that I feel like Brayden really understands what's going on, so I wanted to be sure that I was very intentional about what was in his Easter basket this year (and Connor's as well). After I told Drew what I was going to do he asked where I got the ideas, and I kind of chuckled... no where but my slow brain :) I thought this might be helpful for those of you, like me, who haven't go out to get anything yet for the baskets and don't really know where to start. I'm including 7 things in the baskets.

1. A Need (Christ died for us and we have a great NEED for salvation). This will more than likely be socks for the boys because they are both in desparate need of unstained, untorn socks :)
2. A Gift (Christ's death and resurrection was the greatest gift that has ever been given to mankind). Brayden's getting a mini basketball hoop set (one that you can suction to a window) and Connor's getting a hotwheels race car.
3. Peeps. Baby chicks are a great representation of new life, and new life is greatly symbolic of both the risen Lord but also our new life in Christ when we accept Jesus as our Savior.
4. Chocolate Cross. This is pretty self explanatory... I'm a big fan of the chocolate crosses as opposed to the chocolate bunnies because it's a great conversation starter when your child is sitting still eating chocolate.
5. Goldfish (Jesus instructed us to be fishers of men, and I want our boys to remember that we are to tell people the good news that Jesus died on the cross and rose again all for US!)
6. Stuffed Lamb (Jesus was the lamb of God that took away the sins of the world). So far I have been unsuccessful in finding a stuffed lamb that is relatively inexpensive (under $5), so this one may not make the basket.
7. Easter eggs. I'm keeping this just because it's traditional. Eggs are supposed to symbolize our new life in Christ because a new creation comes from the egg (a chick), but sadly this has become so wildly secularized that I feel like that meaning is harder to convey to the kids than the other things. 

And that's our Easter baskets! It's pretty simple, but I like to keep it that way really. If you have Christ-centered ways to fill your baskets, I'd love to hear them!