Meaningful family traditions

My wife and I come from homes without much in the way of admirable traditions. We both became Christians as adults, and now with four boys to raise, we find ourselves casting about during occasions like Easter, trying to develop a set of traditions that are meaningful. We don't want our children to associate Easter solely, as we did, with hunting for eggs, any more than we want them thinking Christmas is all about presents.

There's something oxymoronic about trying to start a tradition. But that's where we are. Some churches are rich in tradition and practice, making it easier for people like us to bind ourselves to meaningful habits. We find ourselves in a Protestant church, however-the very label connotes a casting off of habits. So we have to inaugurate our own traditions.

Take Passover, for example. I know, it's a Jewish holiday. But it's also the night when Christ broke bread and drank wine with his disciples, and when he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. I'm not the first Protestant to think perhaps this deserves some commemoration. I did a little reading about how other Christians do this, but we were mostly on our own. We settled on lamb chops (the last fresh lamb our butcher had), with, among other things, a side of horseradish, commemorating the bitterness of captivity (to sin), and a side of cooked apples, to signify the sweetness of deliverance. We had bread and red wine as well, and talked with the children about the significance of all these things. Probably all they'll remember is that they each got a sip of wine.

I read Psalm 113 to them before we ate ("Who is like the Lord our God/Who is enthroned on high?"). After dinner I read Psalm 115 ("The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us"). The children listened politely ... and asked for another sip of wine. I suppose a tradition doesn't take root in one sitting, especially among little heathens.

Today they'll have light meals, their way of walking alongside me as I fast. "Why won't you eat?" asked my oldest. I told him that Good Friday is a day some Christians fast, as a way of repenting and remembering what the Lord did for us. He asked if he could fast, too. Later, I told him, when you're older. That's the other challenge with tradition, to keep it vibrant by remaining connected to its purpose, rather than letting it become the dead grip of a forgotten past.

A good Protestant could explain why all of this is balderdash. We're liberated from these rituals, etc. As I teach my children other things, however, I'm struck by the efficacy of coupling theory with practice. It seems like we learn best when we are doing. We are practical creatures that way. So I fast, as a way of "doing" repentance, even though I know full well that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, and a broken and contrite heart. A physical practice like fasting, for me, strengthens my spiritual practice.

I'm curious if others have had the same experience and what, if anything, you do during the season of Passover and Good Friday and Easter. What do you do, if anything, to make this time more meaningful to you and your family?