As eager children, we decorated empty oatmeal boxes with fluted yellow crepe paper. We filled the Easter baskets with tuna sandwiches, Clover Club potato chips, colored-eggs, Hostess Twinkies and chocolate Easter bunnies. We drove up Ogden Canyon — as a family — on the Saturday before Easter. We called our yearly celebration Eastering. It was fun and festive.
The following day — on Easter Sunday — we attended church, worshipped Jesus Christ, listened to inspirational talks and sang hymns, such as "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." We strived to continue — with our children — the tradition of enjoying the candied Easter egg festivities on Saturday and honoring Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday.
My parents had visited us on Easter when our children were young. My father taught us of Jesus Christ's Atonement. We listened as Dad bore testimony of the Savior, his devotion, his Resurrection.
One year, my friend invited me to go on a picnic on Easter Sunday. I felt uncomfortable away from my accustomed family tradition.
Years later, our son Bret returned from serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 22, 1990. He spoke on Easter Sunday. Bret delivered a brief synopsis of his mission. Then he felt honored to speak of Jesus Christ.
Bret’s testimony of Christ’s Resurrection had been an integral part of his mission. Nevertheless he recalls he had long before learned the true meaning of Easter from parents and grandparents. They had taught him and his siblings to celebrate Easter — without the festivities — on Sunday. They had learned the importance of worshipping Jesus Christ and his all-inclusive Resurrection.
And the tradition continues.
Jelean Reynolds is an accomplished author. She is a mother to five children and a grandmother to 19 grandchildren.