The Morning Celebration

My Easter basket--found!

What does a church service in the cemetery, a German flag hidden behind some flowers, and over 20 pairs of shoes outside the front door have in common? I'll make it a little easier on you--what does an over abundance of colored eggs, an invasion of bunnies, and the phrase "He is Risen" have in common? Ok, so if you're still clueless, it's no longer my fault :-) But everything mentioned above--and much more--is what made April 8th such a memorable and exciting Easter Sunday.

Church service in the cemetery wasn't a joke...I realized that clearly as I pulled myself out of bed at 6:00am! Although getting up at the crack of dawn wouldn't have been my first choice, I thought of my own family's 5am Christmas morning tradition and the five exchange students who learned to love (or at least tolerate) it. We got to the cemetery at quarter before seven and as we piled out of the car, April decided to sprinkle a few snow flakes. I must have gotten Easter and Christmas confused in my "dear Santa letter" but will certainly pay better attention next time ;-) Nothing turned to white but the tiny flakes justified our shivering.

But the service truly was something I won't forget and such a creative way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. The brass band played several songs--most of which were older than my country. And although I probably could have predicted the sermon word for word in English, as I stood there listening, I realized I understood the whole thing! It was a very triumphant moment :) Around 7:30 the last song was sung and kids and adults alike scurried back to the cars to run home to an Easter breakfast.

No more lent, no more fasting. Mama and I both sat at the breakfast table trying to decide what our first taste of sugar should be after 7 weeks without. The lindt bunnies on our plates? The vanilla cakes shaped as lambs? Or good old zopf smeared with a thick layer of jam. I opted for the jam and never had it tasted so good. That first bite of my lamb cake was certainly a shocker though. SO SWEET! I was initially excited that after going "so long" without sugar I wouldn't be able to eat as much...hahaha. How naive!

My German flag :-)

The children finished and then began eagerly asking about the Easter basket hunt that they knew came right after breakfast. Papa and I got up a few minutes before everyone to help the Easter bunny with his enormous work load and then let the kids loose! By 9:45, all gifts and baskets were found and sifted through quickly before packing everything upstairs and heading off the the second Easter church service. 

Everyone was there and the pews were packed. Hopefully it won't sound rude for me to say I was excited to see that the normal worship of 17th century hymns with an organ was replaced by songs younger than me accompanied by a keyboard and guitar. Oh, and the best part? They were in English! Don't get me wrong, I love German, but seeing an English song pop up on the overhead now and again is a happy thing :)

And that was the first half of Easter. Considering I've already got a good number of paragraphs behind me, I think I'll end here and fill you in on the afternoon celebrations next time :)