Karla's Kolumn: A buffet of Easter thoughts

So I woke up this morning to snow and thought to myself, in December we thought we would not get a white Christmas. We did. And now it looks like we may get a white Easter as well. Perhaps the snow will melt but rain and snow are in the forecast later in the week so one never knows.

Speaking of Easter did you catch the feature in the Northern Wyoming News on the Maslowskis that included some Easter traditions from the Ukraine. I enjoyed learning about some of those traditions. I briefly, if only for a millisecond, thought about downloading a pysanky pattern and trying to create a pysanka egg. Then I remembered I am not creative, not crafty and not patient.

When I dyed Easter eggs as a kid I either would not leave them alone as I was bored waiting or I would put the eggs in the dye and go do something else for an hour or so. Dying the Easter eggs sometimes could take all day that way.

One of the biggest traditions in America on Easter, besides sunrise church services, is Easter egg hunts. This year there are two scheduled, both at 1 p.m., one in Worland at Newell Sargent Park hosted by the American Legion Post 44, and one in Ten Sleep at the football field hosted by the Ten Sleep-Hyattville Lions Club.

Many families have their own Easter egg hunts. One church is having an Easter egg hunt as part of their celebration.

I have held Easter treat hunts for my dogs but have not done one in several years. I am thinking with Roscoe the Rascal (yes that’s his full name now and trust me he has earned it) in the house I think it will be a hoot. If you are taking odds I think with his nose he wins hands down.

Now if it comes to tossing Easter egg treats to them, Ivy wins that one easily because she rarely misses and is “johnny on the spot” if Shadow or Roscoe misses. (Roscoe is still learning to catch so he misses a lot much to Ivy’s delight.)

I also enjoy Easter hymns and songs at this time of year. My favorite Easter hymn is “He Arose,” but I also like “The Old Rugged Cross” and “He Lives.”

There are plenty of contemporary Christian Easter songs to enjoy and celebrate Christ’s resurrection. Some of my favorites that I will be listening to include “Via Dolorosa,” “Watch The Lamb,” “The Champion” and “He’s Alive,” just to name a few.

Then there are the movies to entertain and teach us. There is a list of seven family Easter movies on A9 from Metro Creative Connection. They include fun movies, movies that are fun with a message and religious movies. For a fun movie or rather TV show, they should have included “Ice Age: The Great Egg-scapade.” Regarding religious films they did include “The Ten Commandments” but you have to carve out some time for that one. They did not list “Ben Hur,” or “Risen,” both good flicks.

They did list “The Passion of the Christ.” If you want to understand what Jesus went through during the crucifixion, then you should watch that movie. It shows all that that the Son of God did for us, for our salvation.

If you are also interested in the death and resurrection, a good book is the “Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel. There is a short version titled “The Case for Easter.” The “Case for Christ” has also been made into a movie. An investigative journalist researches the crucifixion, death and resurrection. I have not seen the movie but the book, as well as the others in his series, are good reads.

Spoiler alert, giving away the ending from “The Passion” and the “Case for Christ,” He Lives. That is the glorious part of Easter, from Good Friday where Jesus died on the cross for our sins to Easter when He rose again and lives today to give those who believe in Him eternal life.

Happy Easter.