Email your question to Dworin.
Dworin, 38, a mother of three and a former parenting magazine editor, blogs about the quirky journey of her Lutheran family: Dan, 39; Janine, 11; Ben, 8; Jillian, 5; and Louis, a circus-sized poodle, at www.thelutheran.org/blog/parenting.
Prepare these cookies the night before Easter.
Ingredients:
1 tsp. vinegar
3 eggs, separated
Pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Put the vinegar in a mixing bowl. Separate the yolks from the egg whites, and add the egg whites to the vinegar. Add salt and sugar. Take turns beating the mixture until it forms stiff peaks (about 10 to 15 minutes with an electric mixer). Drop the batter by teaspoons on to a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. You also can put the batter in a frosting bag and pipe out individual cookies.
Explain to your children that each cookie is like the tomb where Jesus was buried. Put the cookies in the oven and turn the oven off. Talk about how Jesus' body was sealed into the tomb when he died.
The next morning, open the oven and give everyone a cookie. The kids will notice that the cookies are empty inside-just like Jesus' tomb was on Easter.
Pastors aren’t the only ones who feel Easter morning pressure. For kids, too, it can be the biggest morning of the church year.
They must find their Easter baskets, eat Peeps until their tummies ache, dress up in new outfits and pose for family photos. Then, they’re expected to patiently sit through one of the most jam-packed worship services of the year.
While parents each year talk about downsizing their family’s Christmas celebrations, there’s not as much dialogue about scaling back the hectic pace of Easter. Perhaps it’s time to make a change.
Make your family’s celebration more meaningful by:
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© 2013 Augsburg Fortress, Publishers
