Easter 2012

We had a busy, but great, Easter Weekend.   I worked like a mad dog on the Thursday before Good Friday to get my 2 days worth of work into one.  Easter seems to be just as busy a season as Christmas is at the church!  Thursday evening a bunch of the hubsters headed out to the auto show in Vancouver to drool over look at their dream vehicles.  The girls came over and we baked Paska together.  Friday morning both of our brothers came out to join us for our traditional Good Friday breakfast and service at church.  The guys always put on an amazing breakfast spread for our church and this year didn't disappoint!  We enjoyed the service, and Rob and I had our first experience serving communion.  It was a special time and we were humbled to serve and pray with our dear church family.  Friday evening we headed to my parents place for a wonderful dinner made by Mom.  The kids had a great time searching for eggs in the yard and their Grandparents and Uncle 'Pid' spoiled them rotten.  We had such a special time as a family.

Saturday I made another batch of Paska and we spent the day getting a few things done around the house.   We enjoyed dinner at the home of our friends 'The Rachs' and had a great time catching up on life while watching our home boys, the Canucks, win the President's cup! (GO NUCKS GO!)

Sunday I packed up the paska and headed to church for a lovely continental breakfast.  We enjoyed a great church service.  Monday was a gorgeous sunny day here and a few of my peeps planned a last minute get together.  Just a few hours, a little window shopping and a lovely glass of wine on the sunny patio was enough to complete a busy but wonderful weekend!  

What's with the Tim Horton's cups?  Well, every time Timmy's has their 'roll up the rim' contest, my Dad (who just happens to love Timmy's) saves his cups for the kids until he's got a huge stack.  Once he's ready, or the kids have bugged him enough, he lines them all up and lets the kids take turns rolling up rims!  None of us can understand how he can save them.  We all have to roll ours up right away!  Dad's always been a patient and kind man...this is no exception.  The kids had a hoot...

Going Greek...

Well, it all started with the Pastor asking me if I would be willing to head up the meal for our Passover Celebration.  I asked how many people...he said, "oh, well, I don't know.  We've never done something like this before. I don't think it would be more than 50, maybe 100 people interested".  Hmmm, I thought.  Well, I've cooked for Alpha before and that was for 60ish people.  I could probably do this.  We talked about menu.  He was open to anything, but after discussing the theme of the celebration and the meaning of it we thought it may be fun to do a Mediterranean flavoured meal.  I love, love, love Greek food and I've been cooking it more confidently in the past few months.  I figured, if I could cook it for our family then I could expand it for 50ish people.  Guess what?  I didn't cook for 50ish people.  I cooked for 250ish people.  Yeah...I reacted the same way.  Here's the part where I need to define 'I cooked'.  I didn't really cook for that many people.  I organized the cooking for that many people. 

Here's how 'I' did it:
First, I phoned all the 'pros' in our church that I could find and asked them how the heck you cook for that many people.  I took notes.  Lots of notes.
Second, I planned the menu.  Lots of research, lots of math.  Two things I least enjoy.
Thirdly, I took the advice of those pro's and delegated each aspect of the meal to different people.  Those people were responsible for finding all the people they needed.  I provided them with their recipes, and offered to do their shopping for them if they didn't want to do that part.
Fourthly, I panicked.  A lot.  What if this?  What if that?  What if I failed hugely?
Fifth, I gave it to God.  If you're taking notes, I would suggest placing this first, third, fifth and so on....I prayed that God would provide me with the knowledge, the peace, the ability, the help and the opportunity to honour Him.
Rob had his hand injury in the middle of all of this and the Pastor graciously offered me an out on all of this.  He was so great about it.  He said it would be fine to order KFC.  Um, no, it's not fine.  I'll still do it!  Then I went back to step number 5, again and again.

God provided above and beyond.  He gave us peace in a crazy, overwhelming time, He gave us helpers with great attitudes and abilities, and He used it for His glory. 
I am a person who thrives on challenges and tends to take them on to deal with stress.  Backwards, I know, but it makes me who I am.

We served:
BBQ'd souvlaki chicken - we bbq'd 270 pieces and had 6 leftover!
Greek Potatoes - everyone got one portion, and about 10 lucky people got seconds!
Lemon/Dill Rice - lots of rice, and one pan leftover
Greek Salad - oh was it good! Just enough left over for a few lunches for the help!
Unleavened bread (in keeping with Passover tradition) with tzaziki dip
Dessert - this was not my dept but it was good!  I think there was a chocolate or orange type cake of some sort...I didn't have much time to enjoy;)
The teams had to be scheduled around the space and equipment available in the kitchen. 
Everything had to be labelled with instructions for the prep team and table setting crew.
I was on my feet for 13 hours solid and my notes looked like shredded paper by the time I was done, but we did it!

Some of the many challenges presented:
Addition of people right up to the event!  Seriously people, buy your tickets on time!
Shopping for that many ingredients and fitting them all in my car!
Not having access to the kitchen until 11pm the night before the event (there was a wedding in the day before the event)
Preparing all the food in a foodsafe manner and having the right people on hand to help with that!
Clean up for that many dishes! (surprisingly it only took 3 hours to clean over 1000 dishes!)
Coming in on budget when the meal was only $5 per person ( I think I came in UNDER budget!!!)
Naysayers in the ranks...
I have to share how disappointed I was to hear of a couple of people who talked negatively about this event before it even happened!  There was one particular 'party' who verbalized to a few people their displeasure at the choice of menu.  Really?  REALLY?  I get it if you don't like Greek, not everyone does.  The ironic reality is that it's chicken, potatoes, rice and veggies people...but instead of soaking them in sweet and sour, we're using savoury spices. I chose not to be discouraged for long.  Some people will ALWAYS find something to complain about!
Our Pastors wife was so encouraging.  We talked about how this celebration was about SO MUCH MORE than Greek food.  This celebration was about the importance and meaning of Jesus' last supper with His disciples.  This celebration was about the significance of His death on the cross.  This supper was about our heritage.  This supper was about gathering with friends and families and teaching our children more about their heavenly Father.  This celebration was meant to honour God.  It was a wonderful evening.  I didn't get to partake in the readings and such, but I did grab a quick plate of food and visit with friends.  I am forever in debt to our dear friends Rich and Shell for their joy and willingness in helping us with so much prep work.  We are definitely treating you to dinner one of these days...and it won't be Greek food!
I'll post a few of the recipes I chose for this meal in the next week and you can give them a try if you like. 

Everything was made from scratch with the exception of the tzaziki dip (mine never tastes as good as the store stuff) and the greek salad dressing (which is so perfectly made by our local Greek restaurant)  Kudos to the bbq team, the rice team, the potato peeling & prep crew, the chicken prep crew, the dessert prep team, the Greek salad gurus and the set up and clean up crews.  Your help and experience was a huge asset!  I have heard wonderfully positive things about the whole experience and that's all the thanks I need.  Would I do it again....NO!  Well, maybe.  Ask me later.  Most likely.

Oh...and did I mention that I'm a details person?  I am. To add some colour to the tables I went to one of our local daffodil farmers and bought bulk.  I love our Bradner farmers, they're so helpful and generous.  We got a steal of a deal on a large amount of flowers and he mixed several varieties up in the order just for kicks!  I love community.

Easter...

Easter Season was a busy one around here!  I think, perhaps, more busy than Christmas was...and that's sayin' something!  It was a very fun and meaningful Easter. 
The week prior to Easter was a crazy one.  Our schedule was packed, work was crazy, and we heard of 6 people who had passed away. It was a hard week, but we were blessed despite of it. Our Pastor put a lot of planning and prayer into how to make the Easter season a memorable and meaningful one.  I think it was particularly a special Easter for the kids.  I think they are really starting to grasp the meaning of their Heavenly Father and how His death (and resurrection!)was so necessary for mankind. 
We started off the celebrations on Passover Sunday with a traditional Passover meal at our church. Pastor Tim did a full Passover ceremony with a traditional Seder plate and readings followed by a meal.  It was a unique evening and I was honoured to be a part of the meal prep team. (I'll do a post on that one soon;) 
Then, Good Friday, our church hosted it's annual breakfast and 'Art Walk' where an intimate and meaningful atmosphere is created to help us all interpret what the cross means to us.  The Art Walk was beautiful, with so many expressions of love for Christ. The men prepared the breakfast and it was wonderful!  Both of our brothers came out to join in the festivities.  There was a short service after the Art Walk and then communion.  On Friday evening we headed over to hubby's Moms house for a family get together.  The kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins. 
On Easter Weekend Saturday, it was warm and gorgeous here so we did yard work all day!  My brother came over and lent a much needed hand and we got huge amounts of work done!  Saturday evening Rob and I took the kids to my parents and headed out on a double date with some friends. 
Sunday morning we headed over to a neighboring church to see our nephew be baptised.  It was so special to see him make this decision to publicly declare his love and obedience to God.  It was especially meaningful to me as I was baptised on an Easter Sunday when I was younger.  Sunday afternoon we headed over to my parents for an Easter celebration!  We were originally going to be joined by several family members, but in the end it was just our family.  Mom prepared a lovely meal, we pigged out on strawberry shortcake and paska, the kids did their Easter egg hunt, and, AND....we watched the hockey game!  It's play off season here folks and hockey is the name of the game! 
Easter Monday the kids were off, but Rob had to work, we just had a relaxed day here and, as per usual, Uncle Ken joined us for supper.
'Oooohhhh....the good ol' hockey game...'

Paska, sans icing & sprinkles....good thing I only make this stuff once a year!  I have such a weakness for paska....

Easter...

We had a great Easter weekend! It involved lots of baking, family time together, Easter egg hunts and Church services. Good Friday we went to our service in the morning where we remembered the sacrifice made by Christ for each of us. Our church does a 'Journey to the Cross' where artists are encouraged to express their feelings about their faith through art. The morning starts off with a beautiful breakfast, followed by a walk, or journey, through these exhibits. The journey ends with the cross and what it represents to all mankind. The service followed with beautiful worship music and readings from scripture. Friday evening we had an Easter gathering. Saturday was baseball and family time. Saturday night I baked Paska so it would be fresh to take to church on Sunday for the continental breakfast. Sunday we had Easter services celebrating the resurrection of Christ! We brought the puppies to church for the kids because their lesson was on new life....it was easier than bringing one of the calves!!! After church we had a nice afternoon together and then off to an Easter family gathering with my family. Monday was a low key day. The kids had no school but Rob had to work, but it was still nice to relax. We ended the day with our usual Monday night dinner with our brother Ken. Great weekend...hope yours was great too!