Inspired by Jessica and Charlotte we have an Easter tradition in our home of celebrating the entire Easter season with the Garden of the Good Shepherd. The program consists of a daily prayer time in which you add a scripture inspired sticker to your garden. By the end of Easter season your scene is filled with reminders of Jesus, the good shepherd, and heaven.
This is our 3rd year having a weekly garden party at the end of each themed week. For dinner on Saturday we incorporate each sticker into our meal and talk about what we've learned from our nightly prayer time. It's a favorite tradition in our home and one that keeps the season of Easter alive.
Week 7: The Heavenly Zoo
This is it! Our final garden party for 2014. It's probably the most random of the parties, but hey, what can you expect when the theme includes four inedible birds?
Day 43: The Water
Perhaps the easiest symbol of all. There is water in there. We drank it. Check.
Day 44: The Deer
As a side dish, if you'll let me call pretzels a side dish, we had deer antler pretzels.
Day 45: The Lion
For our main dish I made a lion pizza with pepperonis.
You can also buy lion bars! I picked some up at World Market to go with our other chocolate dessert.
Day 46: The Beehive
My beehive drink dispenser made a perfect holder for the water and served as the symbol for the beehive.
Day 47: The Peacock
I can't remember where I found these peacock feathers, but we used them to decorate the table. You could also make a cute peacock fruit platter!
Day 48: The Pelican
Our pelican was represented by a picture of a pelican, because I couldn't think of any food that could be used for the pelican. We placed him next to the phoenix tail shrimp so he could snack on them.
Day 49: The Phoenix
And here's the phoenix tail shrimp... sort of. Really I should have deep fat fried raw shrimp in a batter, but I didn't, because I want to see my children's children.
Day 50: The Dove
And to finish it all off, Dove dark chocolate. Look at how the wrappers are the liturgically correct color of red for Pentecost! I think Nestle had that in mind when they chose red for dark chocolate.
50 days, 50 prayer services, 50 symbols. It's sad to see Easter season pass, but what a memorable one we had!
