Palm Sunday, Easter preparation

We had a good Palm Sunday service last Sunday. We met at St. John's Church, and Matthew led the way as we processed down to our church, St. Margaret's, holding palm leaf crosses. In the second photo you can see Joshua and just a bit of Hannah holding the candle. We had a good day AND the weather was fairly nice.





Next we have some interesting English traditions. Our wonderful neighbor, Mrs. Minto, had the girls over to dye eggs and make a few things. The English do not have the tablets to dye eggs. It is difficult to find any white eggs, though my neighbor did inform me that they can be bought for 75 pence a half dozen at the indoor market (which is about $1.40). Most of the eggs here are brown eggs. Any way, they took flowers and leaves, dipped them in oil, then pressed the leaf or flower on the egg, wrapped it in onion skin and newspaper, then boiled them. They came out so nice.



They also made some chocolate nests with chocolate eggs and a cake. The cake is interesting because of what it represents. The cake is a traditional Christmas fruit cake cut in half with almond paste spread in the middle. Almond paste is then spread on the top. Twelve almond paste balls are then placed on the top to represent the Twelve disciples and the icing in the middle represents the Sea of Galilee. Interesting!


Mrs. Minto told us about a few fun English traditions as well. On Good Friday, they always have hot-crossed buns. The hardened bun is said to protect the house from evil or if you grate the hardened bun and put it in tea it will help an upset tummy. On Easter Sunday, there are traditional games like egg rolling and egg jarping. The egg rolling is supposed to symbolize the stone of Jesus' tomb being rolled away. Egg jarping (or bumping) is just a fun game usually played on Sunday at meal time.

We are looking forward to the Easter services at the Cathedral. Jeff, Matthew and I will be attending the 5:15 AM sunrise service for confirmation in the Church of England. The other kids will be home with a sitter. The service will last about 2 hours with confirmations, baptisms and Holy Eucharist. It will be wonderful. We'll then come home, get the kids up and go to St. Margaret's for Easter service at 10:00 AM. We'll be tired! We do hope that you all have a wonderful Easter Morning as well. Hannah has already talked about missing the egg hunt, games and prizes at JKPCA :( Miss you all and Happy Easter!



Had to do this, I was TOO curious! Thanks Jessie and Raonna!

You scored as Sleeping Beauty. Your alter ego is Princess Aurora, a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty! You are beautiful and enchanting, and as sweet as ever. Sleeping Beauty 75% Goofy 69% Cinderella 69% Peter Pan 56% The Beast 50% Pinocchio 50% Snow White 44% Cruella De Ville 25% Ariel 19% Donald Duck 13% Which Disney Character is your Alter Ego? created with QuizFarm.com

Notice what character was next on the list?