Our Paschal Countdown

I wanted to share our way of couting down to Pascha this year (which is actually the same as last year).

My children are young. My son, the oldest, is recently 4, my oldest daughter will be 3 in May, and my youngest is 13.5 months old. So when I made up our Paschal countdown, I was keeping in mind that I do not want to do anything too complicated or confusing for them. As a bonus, I wanted to keep it simple for a tired and often forgetful Mama like myself!

We began this last year, and this will probably be the last year I'll do it this way, since next year we'll have an almost-kindergartener who will be ready for something a little more complicated. 

But for now...

I took a basket and I filled it with 49 plastic Easter eggs (which cost less than $5!), one for each day of this fasting season (including Holy Week). It is so simple, but yet draws the kids in so well because it is so colorful. Each morning, after prayer, we are taking out one egg because we are one day closer to Pascha. I remind the kids with each egg that we remove, that we are doing this to count down to the Feast of Feasts, and that as our basket gets more and more empty, we will be closer and closer to Pascha. Then, on the Paschal night, I tell them, we will take our now empty basket and fill it with kulich and cheese pascha and hard-boiled eggs and take it to church to be blessed. I get so excited each time I talk about Pascha night! 

The best part is that the kids remember doing this last year, so they are double excited this year.