If you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you know I’m not huge on crafts or high-energy decorations. It’s not that I don’t like them, It’s just that I’ve hardly had time or money to delve into such things. I’m into the more practical side of homemaking and mothering: training, educating, cooking, eating and cleaning and doing cheap, easy stuff together like singing, watching movies, and reading aloud. So don’t worry, none of these Easter ideas will involve running to the store or taking a lot of time.
1. Read the Easter story from the Bible. You can find the scriptures of the day-by-day events of Easter week here. Use the corresponding pictures from the Gospel Art Book and display on a bookcase, wall, or mantel. I love how Wendee Wilcox Rosborough, Brad Wilcox’s daughter, has authored a book about how to celebrate this Holy Week. She has given names for each of these days: Palm Sunday (the triumphal entry); Cleansing Monday (sanctifying the temple); Parable Tuesday (teaching the disciples); Betrayal Wednesday (offering and receiving forgiveness); Last Supper Thursday (the first sacrament); Good Friday (Jesus’ sacrifice); Salvation Saturday (Jesus Christ in the spirit world); Easter Sunday (life after death); and Conference Sunday (when Easter coincides with general conference).
2. Watch Finding Faith in Christ above. We usually watch this and Easter Dream (video below, mentioned later in this post) after we have our Easter egg hunt. The sweetness of the candy that I filled the plastic eggs with is a good reminder of the sweetness of the love and life that comes from Jesus.
4. Watch Easter Dream, a touching story about faith in the resurrection, featured above.
5. Listen/watch videos from BYU’s Easter Conference. I’ve been watching/listening to these while doing kitchen work. I love these! The one shown below relates a personal experience by Brent L. Top about Christ’s mercy.
9. Watch the virtual choir that the LDS Church assembled recently. My brother-in-law appears on the screen just as they’re singing the words, “And He shall reign forever…”at the 2:41 minute mark, in the lower right-hand corner.
10. Memorize the Living Christ document. I’ve been working on this with the kids for the past two weeks as part of our homeschool devotional, but we won’t be done in time for Easter. That’s OK, we will just keep going, adding a sentence or two a day, and then rememorize it at Christmastime. Study aids, with the document broken down into 12 weeks, with pictures to go with each phrase, are found here.
11. Take some Easter treats or non-edible things, even just a flower or homemade card, to a lonely neighbor and visit with them.
BONUS: Get the Easter Countdown from Montesserat from cranialhiccups.com and prepare for next year! This is her explanation of it here. I’m sorry I didn’t share this sooner. You could look it over and cram some of it in between now and Easter, like watching Bible videos, printing out the tags with the Names of Christ (featured towards the end of the document) to decorate an Easter tree, or creating the Names of Christ study booklet.
To continue the series of daily family traditions for Holy Week, today’s eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus come from Nicodemus and Joseph.
Please watch the video above to hear Emily Freeman and David Butler share about making a testimony tree in honor of Joseph and Nicodemus. I love that it involves writing down testimonies onto slips of paper, putting the slips into little plastic eggs, and decorating the branch you cut down for Day #1, to create a testimony tree. It also involves thinking about what we can each do for the Savior in the here and now. What is the finest and best that we can give? I love these simple family traditions to focus on the Savior.
Want to peek at the rest of the Holy Week daily traditions and get prepped? Go here.
Go here to learn about a book on activities, including games and crafts, for the Holy Week.
Go here for a free beautiful banner that says “He is Risen Indeed.”
Go here to my family read-alouds and traditions site for spring, and scroll down under “April” to see even more picture books and family traditions for Easter.
Go here for my list of poetry, songs, and stories for your Family Devotionals to use this spring, even after Easter!
Today is Day #2 of Holy Week, the week before Easter. Here’s a simple tradition you can do with your family that honors Simon of Cyrene, mentioned in Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21 and Luke 23:26.
Want to peek at the rest of the Holy Week daily traditions and get prepped? Go here.
Want more Christ-centered Easter ideas? Go here for a simple book full of Holy Week activities for young families, go here for ideas from Lani and John Hilton III, and here for my list of songs, stories, scriptures and poetry for Easter.
With today being Palm Sunday, it’s the start of Holy Week! Here’s a simple tradition you can start today with your family to honor the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem onto a donkey. I love that it’s so simple yet meaningful. Watch the video below to learn.
Want to peek at the rest of the Holy Week daily traditions and get prepped? Go here.
Want more Christ-centered Easter ideas? Go here for a simple book full of Holy Week activities for young families, go here for ideas from Lani and John Hilton III, and here for my list of songs, stories, scriptures and poetry for Easter.
This is a darling, meaningful Easter picture book that celebrates family history, Black American history, and Christianity. Along the way it also honors creativity and ingenuity and shows something most little boys don’t see: a fellow boy using a sewing machine.
In this story, a little boy, Elijah, wants to come up with the perfect Easter outfit to wear for Easter Sunday when he attends church. His church has a tradition of everyone wearing a fancy new outfit, with the pastor awarding a prize to the best one. Elijah searches and searches until he comes up with the best idea. It involves his family history and his faith. I love it! I also love the back matter, the pages at the end of the book after the story is over, where the author, Brentom Jackson, shares the inspiration and backstory of the book. Reading that can open up a discussion about slavery, segregation, the history of civil rights for Blacks, and more. In general, the book can spark discussion of family traditions, honoring ancestors, wearing new clothes for Easter, and what’s really important about Easter. I love the illustrations by Emmaneul Boateng. His soft luminous digital art makes the book glow like an Easter sunrise. It’s a lovely book, one I want to make a tradition of reading aloud every year to somebody, especially my grandchildren.
Want more Easter picture books? Go here and here for more.
In the video below, Lani Hilton talks about her “Good Friday” bag. Lani is the wife of John Hilton III, author, BYU professor of religion, and second cousin to my children. Sister Hilton has collected some items she keeps in a bag to pull out so her family can talk about the people involved with Good Friday, like a sword and a crown of thorns.
The sword goes with the centurion who stood at the foot of the cross and said, “Surely this was the Son of God.” (Did you know that the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible changes the verb tense of that last sentence to “Surely this is the Son of God?” I learned that today by watching Jared Halverson’s YouTube Easter video here.)
I just love the way Sister Lani explained the centurion’s testimony, how she has told her children that the centurion saw the signs of Jesus that caused him to recognize that Jesus is the Son of God. He then testified of Jesus as the son of God. Then she has asked them what signs they have seen that shows them that Jesus is the Son of God. This then opens up the space for a mini-family testimony meeting.
Good Friday is a week from today! It’s not too late to watch the video and get the bag assembled to share with your family and friends for a Good Friday observance.
I agree with the quote that the Hiltons share from Elder Gary E. Stevenson, who quotes N.T. Wright:
“We should be taking steps to celebrate Easter in creative new ways: in art, literature, children’s games, poetry, music, dance, festivals, bells, special concerts. … This is our greatest festival. Take Christmas away, and in biblical terms you lose two chapters at the front of Matthew and Luke, nothing else. Take Easter away, and you don’t have a New Testament; you don’t have a Christianity.” Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Liahona, May 2023
Yes!!! I love it!! So if you want more…here you go:
Go here to learn about a book on activities, including games and crafts, for the Holy Week.
Go here for a free beautiful banner that says “He is Risen Indeed.”
Go here to my family read-alouds and traditions site for spring, and scroll down under “April” to see even more picture books and family traditions for Easter.
Go here for my list of poetry, songs, and stories for your Family Devotionals to use this spring, even after Easter! It includes the song below, “He is Risen,” by Steven Kapp Perry. It’s under the heading, “Music from the New Era.”
Image Credit: instagram account of BYUTV’s Relative Race
It was hard to squeeze in watching the latest episode of Relative Race last Sunday night, because of General Conference and an Easter concert practice for church. (Go here if you want to learn what Relative Race is all about. Also, here’s a mini recap of our April 2025 General Conference.) So I watched it without my husband and son on my own, after they went to bed. I’ll watch it again soon with them. Once again, it was soooo good! The episode is here, and the recap is below. Thanks again to Cheri Hudson Passey and her GenFriends for creating the debrief/recap.
Go here if you want more recaps and go here if you want even more about Relative Race.
Thanks to Montserrat Wadman, homeschooling mom of 11, from agospelcenteredhome.com for creating a Jeopardy! game after each General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love Jeopardy! so much, and I love the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, so to have this combination just makes life so exquisite! Go here to get it, in either Powerpoint format or a simpler PDF. We played it with my BYU son’s Family Home Evening group last Monday. It was a lot of fun! I’m so grateful and impressed that Monteserrat gets it done within 24 hours every time.
Here’s more about it from when we’ve played it in the past, in zoom, with family members living hundreds of miles away.
I absolutely loved General Conference this past weekend! If you want to skip my recounting of it, and get to the Fun Facts game, go down a few paragraphs to get the directions and questions for Fun Facts April 2025 General Conference. If you want to read my memories of this past weekend, read on, the next few paragraphs.
We celebrated Conference time by spending both Saturday and Sunday at my parents’ home. I have a son who is doing home MTC at my brother’s home just around the corner from my parents. So we were able to have my son join us to watch General Conference. It is so great to see him in his white shirt, wearing his nametag bearing the name of Jesus Christ with his name underneath it, along with his tie and clean-shaven haircut. For a long time, I had huge reason to doubt that this day would ever come. Miracles happen! Hearts change! Soon he will enter the Provo MTC for two more weeks of training and then be off on his mission. I’m so happy about this! It is a mama’s dream come true! He is my fourth son to leave on a mission. Nothing beats the moment when I welcome a missionary child home after two years, knowing the hero journey we’ve both been on. I’m so looking forward to that, two years from now! Cue the music, “We’ll Bring the World His Truth”!
I’m basking in the glow of all of that, and also in the glow of knowing that two of my inlaws’ relatives spoke in Conference, back-to-back. They both spoke in the Sunday AM session: Elder Shumway and Sister Runia. Elder Steven Shumway’s grandfather is my father-in-law’s first cousin. Right after Elder Shumway spoke, Sister Tamara Runia spoke. She is on the other side of my husband’s family tree. Her mother is my mother-in-law’s first cousin. My inlaws have both passed on, but they were probably watching from heaven and smiling, rejoicing in their kinfolk who are testifying of Christ and valiantly serving to help teach and gather Israel. Both of them gave such fabulous talks!
After all 5 sessions were over (whew! it always feels like a bit of a marathon, definitely more so in the days when I had little children at home), we played General Conference Wits and Wagers, with two of my sons, a nephew, and my mom and dad on a team. It elicited some laughter, connection and smiles, so I was glad we played it. Grandpa was winning so the boys decided they shouldn’t vote for his answer anymore. I’m not sure their strategy was successful, as it’s hard to win if you’re not voting for the right answer. You also have to get people to vote for your answer, and they never colluded about that. Anyway, we all had fun and learned a little Church history along the way. In the course of it I had a memory of my nephew’s grandma on his other side (his dad’s side) speaking in Conference over 20 years ago. I felt the Holy Spirit as I shared about that memory. So, I just loved this activity we shared. Now I can say that the last game I played with my missionary son before he went on his mission was about General Conference. You can get the directions and questions for that game over here.
Photo Credit: I took this photo
I also have another General Conference themed game, called Fun Facts General Conference. I tell all about it over here, where I first introduced it. Every six months, with a new General Conference, I will make new questions to use with this game. It’s based on a commercially produced game, Fun Facts, but if you read about it here, you can get the directions and come up with a homemade version using the questions below.
OK, drumroll please…here are the NEW questions for the Fun Facts April 2025 General Conference game. I have questions that involve numbers given in the Conference talks plus numbers based on people’s opinions/values.
Elder Ronald A. Rasband spoke about the growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in fulfillment of Joseph Smith’s prophecy, given in 1834. At the time Joseph said that the church met in a little schoolhouse with only a handful of priesthood holders. Now the Church is filling the globe, with the fulfillment of Joseph’s prophecy “right before our eyes.” As evidence of this, Elder Rasband gave some statistics about the Church’s growth. How many temples did Elder Rasband say the Church has in total, in various stages of development? (367)
2. How many missionaries of the Church did Elder Rasband say were serving in 2024? (80,000)
3. How many missionaries can you name by name with what mission each one is serving in right now?
3. How many missions did Elder Rasband say were in the church in 2024? (450)
4. How many new missions were created in 2024, according to Elder Rasband? (36)
5. How many missions of the Church are just in Lima, Peru, according to Elder Rasband’s talk? (7)
6. How many students are in the BYU-Pathway program, according to Elder Rasband? (75,000)
7. Over what fraction of the BYU-Pathway students live in Africa, according to Elder Rasband’s talk? (1/3)
I took a photo of our world puzzle. It’s tradition to do this puzzle every time we watch General Conference, twice a year, to remember that Jesus is the Light of the World, and that His gospel is for the whole world, and his Kingdom is spreading over the world through missionary work.
8. Elder Sardinio Roman told a story of teaching his friend how to swim. During the swim lesson, the friend started drowning. In his effort to get help, the friend gave Elder Roman a chokehold and started bringing Elder Roman down too. Fortunately, they were both rescued. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you like to swim?
9. Elder Gary Stevenson told the story of taking an overseas red-eye flight with his wife. The customs agent who checked their passports showed no emotion until she saw something that Sister Stevenson had left in her passport. This object caused the customs agent to smile and connect with Sister Stevenson. It was a small picture of an artist’s rendition of the Savior.
9a. How many different renditions of the Savior’s portrait do you have in your home (paintings on the wall and pictures used as bookmarks, etc.)
9b. On a scale of 1-100 how much do you like to take airplane trips?
9c. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you like to take overnight red-eye flights?
10. Elder Stevenson spoke about the increased emphasis in the Church on having Christ-centered Easter traditions. He shared about his family Easter play. How many Christ-centered Easter traditions does your family have? Alternate question (use this alternate question if you think the previous question won’t generate much of a range of answers): How many Christ-centered Easter traditions would you like to implement this year? (Go here for some ideas.)
11. Sister Tamara Runia spoke about reading a book while on a trip in Florida, about getting to heaven. A woman saw her reading it and asked her a question about it. Here are several questions regarding that situation. Use any or all of them.
11a. How many books have you read so far this year?
11b. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you want to take a trip to Florida?
11c. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you like to read books?
11d. How many different things do you want to see or visit in Florida?
11e. How many books that you’ve read have been the subject of a discussion you’ve had with at least one other person this year?
11f. How many books (or movies) have you read (or watched) in your lifetime about heaven (including the scriptures)?
11f. How many books have you started but not finished yet this year?
12. Sister Runia also spoke of participating in diving competitions when young, and what divers are judged on. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you want to watch a diving competition?
13. Sister Runia also spoke of serving as a mission leader in Australia with her husband.
13a. How many people do you know personally who have visited or lived in Australia?
13b. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you desire to live in Australia?
13c. How many missions are in Australia? (answer is here)
13d. How many people do you know who have served a mission in Australia?
13e. How many temples are in Australia? (answer is here)
14. Sister Runia was wearing a pink dress for her talk. How many articles of pink clothing do you own?
12. Elder Steven Shumway spoke of getting to know the woman who is now his wife by serving ice cream at a church activity.
12a. On a scale of 1-100 how much do you like ice cream?
12b. How many flavors of ice cream do you enjoy eating?
13. Elder Gerrit W. Gong spoke of taking an early morning Bible class where he memorized Bible verses. How many Bible verses have you memorized?
14. Elder Gong mentioned the shortest verse in the Bible, which he memorized.
14a. What chapter in John contains this scripture? (11)
14b. What is the number for this verse in that chapter? (35)
15. Elder Gong spoke of a beautiful bride and handsome groom whom we witnessed getting sealed in the temple for marriage.
15a. How old did he say the bride was? (70)
15b. How old did he say the groom was? (70)
16. Elder Gong spoke of an Egyptian man who told him that in the Qu’ran, it says that Mary, Joseph, and Jesus sought refuge in Egypt. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you desire to read the Qu’ran?
17. Elder John A. McCune spoke of a woman in Mongolia who noticed the mission leader of Mongolia after he entered her workplace. He radiated a light. She asked this man if she could attend church with him so she could learn more about the source of this man’s light. This woman took the missionary lessons and got baptized. Elder McCune mentioned this woman is part of the great gathering of Israel happening over the whole world.
17a. On a scale of 1-100, how much do you desire to visit Mongolia?
17b. How many members of the Church are in Mongolia? (answer is here.)
18. Elder McCune spoke of the Japanese character for “disciple.” He said that it is made of two parts that mean “younger brother” and “child.”
18a. How many people do you know who have studied the Japanese language? Alternate question, On a scale of 1-100, how much do you desire to speak Japanese?
19. Elder McCune spoke of his mother who is still alive.
19a. How old did he say she is? (94)
19b. Over how many descendants did he say that she has? (200)
20. Elder Christopher H. Kim spoke about the joy of repentance. He spoke of Laman and Lemuel in the Book of Mormon being hardhearted. He said that in the Korean translation of the Book of Mormon, the word for “hardhearted” combines the words for “stubborn” and “wickedness.”
20a. On a scale of 1-100 how many people do you know how have studied the Korean language?
20b. Elder Kim was wearing a purple, gold, and brown striped tie. How many gold-colored items of clothing do you own? (or purple, or brown?)
20c. How many items of striped clothing do you own?
21. How many helps did President Dallin H. Oaks say that God has provided to help us in our plan of salvation journey? (4)
21. Elder Michael B. Strong shared a story of a rice farmer and his wife in the Philippines who waited for a long time to save money to take a trip to the temple to be sealed as a family. A typhoon delayed the time they normally would have planted rice seedlings for planting time. By the time the family could plant the seedlings, it was the appointed time to leave for their temple trip. A missionary couple spearheaded a team effort with service missionaries to plant the seedlings for the family so they family could leave at the appointed time.
19a. How many temples are in the Philippines? (answer is here)
19b.How many missions are in the Philippines? (answer is here)
19c. How many service projects have you been involved in?
19d. On a scale of 1-100 how much do you enjoy eating rice?
20a. How many temples did President Nelson announce in the very last talk in the very last session of the April 2025 conference? (15. The list is here.)
20b. How many temples on that list are not in the U.S.? (9)
21. Based on the answer in Question #1, how many total temples will now be in various phases of planning, construction, and use for the Church? (382)
22. How many total temples has President Nelson announced as president of the Church? (200, source is here.)
General Conference is tomorrow and Sunday! You can learn more about it and watch it here. When I watch it I feel inspiration to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ. That’s because I get to hear from people who Jesus has chosen to lead His church today. Here’s a song to learn the names of the apostles who will be speaking to us over the next two days. Thanks to Marcie Holladay for sharing this on her YouTube Channel, Single Mom on a Farm.
Tree of Life Mothering 