Alleluia! Christ is Risen!

As always, our Easter celebration really begins with the start of the Holy Triduum on Maundry Thursday. As it turns out, that was the most beautiful day of the whole Easter weekend, and the last time we’d see blue skies!

On Friday, I did a bit of prep work for Sunday…I tried a new (very successful!) recipe for flatbreads, and also made hot cross buns:

We went back to church Friday evening, and the cloudy skies seemed appropriate for the day.

On Saturday, we did some more work…Ladybug frosted the cupcakes she made the day before, and I baked a baklava cheesecake.

We also made our 2025 Paschal candle while watching Rick Steves’ European Easter…both are important Holy Saturday traditions to us.

And then my favorite church service of the entire year…with a twist. The overnight rain made it impossible to begin the Great Vigil of Easter outside by the bonfire as usual, so we had a “bonfire” in the back of the sanctuary to start the service. All things considered, it was a good solution to a soggy problem!

We always get Wendy’s on the way home from church on Saturday evening:

And then back to church this morning for the most celebratory service of the year!

The family photo isn’t quite right without Bunny, but she couldn’t get away from school to join us…we’ll see her in a few weeks for graduation, though!

Our Easter breakfast was a bit simpler than I’ve made some years…scrambled eggs, sausage, a fruit salad, pomegranate juice, and like last year, 13 kinds of mini donuts!

We had fun watching the first two My Big Fat Greek Wedding movies, and I made lavender matchas for those who enjoy them:

And I set the table, featuring the new Paschal candle and a new bunny napkin fold that incorporated the Cadbury Creme Eggs I had picked up:

I found some time to check into Animal Crossing, and Roald was nice enough to take a picture with me!

I made a menu of Greek foods for dinner…souvlaki and gyros, with our favorite toppings and flatbread, fried feta, Greek salad, and spanakopita, plus the hot cross buns…kind of minus the crosses, which mostly melted to the plastic wrap!

And for dessert, the baklava cheesecake:

After how long Lent always seems, Holy Week, and especially the Holy Triduum and Easter Sunday itself go by so quickly, but we had a lovely celebration…Happy Easter!