Awaiting the Easter Vigil

I wish you could have seen the light in the eyes of my girls as I printed out materials for this year's Easter Vigil notebooks over the weekend. Two years ago, we spent all of Lent preparing for the Easter Vigil, and our journey made a deep impression on their loving hearts. This year, we plan to re-live the project, starting anew from the ground up rather than adding to our old books. It will be interesting to see how the four girls interpret each page differently with two more years of spiritual and physical growth under their belts. Even five year old Patrick is old enough to join the fun, and I have no doubt he will have many charming things to add.

We will be posting about our progress here at Cottage Blessings and sharing all the printable sheets prepared by our family should anyone care to join us. The children will set to work tomorrow, although, it would be fine to begin anytime in the next week. This is a project to adapt and make your own, and, if you have a First Communicant, it makes a very serviceable "First Communion Notebook" in and of itself without much tweaking.

Please take a look at the original plans and a discussion here: Easter Vigil Notebooks. OR, if you would prefer something simpler, you may print out a word document containing the plans alone. (You will notice the abbreviated "bullet points" in bold within the document for convenience.)

Essential Materials List:

White paper
Sheet protectors
Binder
Colored pencils or markers
Missal, missalette, or Magnificat magazine covering the Easter Vigil Mass
Your parish bulletin

Important "extras" list:

Easter stickers
Easter pictures (may be printed from the internet)
Colored paper or cardstock
Colored tissue, especially red for flame

As we await the Vigil, we plan to work on relevant craft projects including a Family Paschal Candle, a lantern for transporting home the "light" from the Parish Easter flame to our home, and selected spoon saints to bring the Litany of Saints to life! We will also host a special Tea or two. But for now . . .

Part 1: The Liturgy of Light!

Printable pages for this section:

The Exultet

Opening Prayers
*******
Timesaving Tip: (A bit of a departure from the advice in the original plans). There are several places within the project asking for narration. You may want to do this orally, but please *do not* feel as if you need to write everything down for the notebooks. I know this advice is counterintuitive, particularly for a keepsake project like this one, but sometimes taking down narrations for several children proves so time consuming that the whole project becomes unworkable, and it may not add a significant amount to the overall learning experience. Oral narration is worthwhile even without the hard copy!

Comments

[Carole]

Alice, I am so excited! I decided several weeks ago to teach this to my dc (and an abbreviated version to my CCD class). It will be so great to know that you are teaching right along with us!

The joy and the wonder that I feel about this project is almost overwhelming. We start today, and I can hardly wait. Thank you so much for creating this unit and sharing it with all of us. You are a true wonder in our community.

[Jenn Miller]

I'm so happy you are doing this again...I know it will be even more special this year.

[Patty]

My son and I are going to be working through this project through Lent. Thanks so much for posting it here and at 4Real.

[Elizabeth H.]

Thanks so much for sharing this inspiring material. I have one practical question, though -- how do the children fare at such a late Mass? I can't imagine my gang (aged 6, 4 and 3) making it until 11.30 pm...

[Theresa ♥]

I was just looking through the plans for Lent at the yahoo group last night and I thought I remembered looking at this also?

Looking forward to your sharing.

[Alice Gunther]

I can't thank you enough, dear friends.

Elizabeth, I do not take the little ones to the Easter Vigil--only about ages 7 and up will come with me. I had three companions two years ago--this year, I will have four. Time marches on!

Theresa, you probably saw my Easter Vigil files. I am a moderator of CCM, and I uploaded them there two years ago to assist mothers working on the project.

[Jennifer]

Thank you for these plans, Alice. I am not always sure what to include in our notebook.

[Louise]

Thank you so much Alice for putting it all together here. I am very exited about this project!

[Christine]

Thank you, Alice! You truly enrich our home by sharing all of your wonderful ideas. I hope to have a Lenten Tea this year.

[Maryan]

Thanks Alice -- much appreciated here!! It's so much easier to follow a veteran's plan on preparing my children for Easter!! ;)