Also available as a YouTube video here!
Well, you’ve done it. You AND your children have, somehow, against all odds, survived through to these last few days of Lent. Though for a while there, it looked like you might succumb to an acute lack of coffee / Netflix / Facebook, you’ve made it. And now you need to figure out how to make Holy Week solemn, meaningful, and memorable for your kids. Without a whole lot of effort or advance planning on your part.
So what exactly does Holy Week look like in a faithful Catholic home? Hah! That’s a trick question. Thereâs no one way to be Catholic, and thereâs no one way to do Holy Week. But I WILL tell you what WE usually do and that I havenât started any of it yet and that itâs worked for us in the past. If I can do it, you can do it!
And . . . as always, please remember that you do not have to do all these things! I am a big supporter of baby steps when it comes to beginning liturgical living in the home, and doing what works for your family. Iâll include links to some Catholic All Year products, in case thatâs helpful. But if you havenât set aside a budget for Holy Week thatâs okay too. When I started doing all this stuff with my family fifteen years ago I put everything we used together myself, mostly using things I had around the house.
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Monday of Holy Week
Clean the House Part I: Clean out the toys. This is a great time for a BIG toy purge. We did a our first big playroom toy clean out a few years ago, and it was a HUGE blessing in less mess, less cleaning, less yelling, and more family interaction. I can’t recommend it enough.
We use the first three days of Holy Week to do our biggest house cleaning and stuff purging of the year. People talk about âSpring Cleaningâ. Thatâs too open-ended for me. I need more of a âthese are the only three days of the year you could possibly do this and itâs for JESUSâ feel to make it happen. You can get a holy week cleaning checklist for free to print at home here.
On Monday we clean the living spaces, and specifically clean out toys, desks, and craft supplies. This is a great time for a BIG toy purge. Since I am not naturally a very tidy and organized person, I have found that the BEST thing I can do towards keeping the house clean is to regularly get rid of half of our toys and craft supplies and even books. I just keep the stuff I actually like. Itâs revolutionary, Iâm telling you. Fewer toys in my house means less mess, less cleaning, less yelling, and more family interaction. I canât recommend it enough.
Iâll also finish up our Easter baskets. Iâm focusing this year on practical, lovely things that wonât fill our house back up with junk. Each child is getting a new pair of shoes, a new swimsuit, a couple religious or outside toys or books, and some candy.
Monday is the day that St. Mary of Bethany anointed Jesus with nard perfume. We have this little Catholic All Year bottle of actual nard perfume, which allows us to smell the same smell that Jesus did on this day. I think thatâs SO cool.
Try It! Tidy a couple rooms of the house. Because it’s tradition. Buy candy and toys for Easter baskets.
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Tuesday of Holy Week
Clean the House Part II: On Tuesday the cleaning continues with sleeping spaces. We tidy up upstairs desks and bedside tables and clean out the closets. The method that works best for us is to pull ALL the clothes out of each closet, and only put back in a reasonable amount. Draws that close easily and some wiggle room between hangers makes it much easier for kids to keep their closets tidy.
We do laundry nearly every day, and we have much, much more in the closets than we actually use in a week. Itâs time to pass it along to people who could actually use it. AND make our closets a little more manageable. Also, if stained / ripped / cartoon-character-adorned shirts arenât in their closets, they canât wear them, which is a plus in my book.
Iâll also finalize the guest list for our Good Friday Fish Fry and Easter Sunday Dinner, and make up my shopping lists for the food weâll need for the rest of the week.
Try It! Tidy a couple more rooms of the house. Figure out what you are doing for Easter dinner.
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Spy Wednesday
Then the fun starts on Spy Wednesday, but not until . . .
Clean the House Part III: On Wednesday we will tidy eating spaces. The kitchen will get cleaned including inside the drawers and refrigerator. Weâll also organize the dining room shelves.
Itâs called âSpyâ Wednesday because it is the day that Judas *sneakily* betrayed Jesus, selling the information of when he would be in a place where he could be conveniently arrested to the high priest for thirty pieces of silver.
We’ll read the story in the Bible. (Matthew 26:1-16)
And I’ll hide thirty pieces of silver (we use quarters or chocolate coins) in one area of the house for the kids to find.
We started doing this a few years ago and itâs always an interesting social experiment. My (somewhat) kind and pleasant kids have been known to turn into a bunch of Judases themselves. Theyâve pushed past each other, grabbed quarters that other kids had spotted first but couldnât reach, and babies have been knocked over. All over 30 pieces of silver.
These days, they kind of know what to expect, so itâs not quite so dramatic, but still fun. And they know that theyâll allow themselves to be convinced to donate the quarters to the poor box and maybe even to save the chocolate to eat on Easter.
For more info, and more photos, see this post.
Wednesday evening is the first night of the very cool and very unique Tenebrae service, done only Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of Holy Week. We do an at home version with this very cool Tenebrae Hearse Candelabra. But you can also use any 15 candles youâve got in a drawer someplace. Get a printable version of a modified at-home version here. (Or grab this new guide from the CAY Marketplace!)
Try It! Finish tidying the house. Do your grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Read the story of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus from the Bible to your kids. (Matthew 26:1-16)
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Holy Thursday
Hopefully the three day manic housecleaning was successful, because now things get pretty busy. We do a modified Seven Churches Visitation. This is a Catholic tradition that began with St. Alphonsus Liguori in Italy in the 18th century. After the Mass of the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the Eucharist is not again consecrated until the Easter vigil. The hosts consecrated at this Mass are removed from the church and placed in whatâs called an âaltar of reposeâ in a location outside the church. In order to emulate the disciples who followed behind Jesus as he went from place to place after the last supper on Thursday, St. Alphonsus, with his friends, would visit the altars of repose at the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, on foot, after the Mass of the Last Supper.
That sounds really amazing.
But also not very practical for where I live in Los Angeles and my current state of life which includes many small children. So, I remember the advice of my late grandfather who used to say âbetter is the enemy of good enoughâ and we do it during the day, in the car. Perhaps someday Iâll do it at night, on foot, in silence. But so far, doing it during the day in a car full of noisy little kids has been great.
Then, we come home and prepare our Last Supper Dinner. For dinner, weâll approximate what Jesus and the disciples ate and have lamb chops, a bitter herb salad, flat bread, applesauce, and knishes. See here for the recipes.
On Holy Thursday we commemorate something happy (the Institution of the Eucharist) along with the sad (Jesusâ agony and arrest). So in addition to our bitter herbs, of which the kids must have a little, we also have a Rice Crispy Lamb Cake.
I can’t vouch for the historical accuracy of that part, but itâs fun and tasty.
In whatever order works with the Mass schedules, we’ll also attend a Holy Thursday Mass and do a family foot-washing extravaganza. We draw names and everyone washes and gets washed. Weâll do the at-home Tenebrae service again.
If we can find the time weâll also watch The Prince of Egypt. It covers the ten plagues and the Passover, so itâs especially appropriate for the day. It is a really wonderful movie, it’s available here streaming.
Try It! Watch The Prince of Egypt. Eat Gummi Frogs.
Posts to check out:
HOW WE DO THE TRIDUUM: HOLY THURSDAY
HAPPY FOOT WASHING DAY!
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Good Friday
Good Friday is meant to be a day of fasting and of solemn reflection. My kids arenât very good at that. And, frankly, neither am I. But we do our best.
We’ll start the day with Hot Cross Buns, because even though they’re a tasty treat, I figure if they were Catholic enough for Elizabeth I to outlaw, that ought to be good enough for me.
In the late morning we usually walk to our local parish, visit the empty Adoration Chapel and venerate the cross either at church or at home. See this video for how we do it.
Veneration of the Cross Printable Booklet {Digital Download} Also available as part of the Catholic All April Booklet.
We have a fasting âcollationâ lunch and read aloud from the Bible the story of the Passion, Crucifixion, and Death of Our Lord. One version is Matthew 27:11-66.
During nap time, Iâll give the older kids a quiet craft or project, like Stations of the Cross coloring pages.
After naps, in order to encourage quiet, I often put on a movie for the kids, called âThe Miracle Maker – The Story of Jesusâ. Available for streaming here. Itâs a claymation style and is pretty great. VeggieTales Jonah and the Whale is another option since Jonah, in the whale for three days, is an archetype for Jesus in the tomb for three days. And hey, youâd get to teach your kids the word âarchetype”. They’ll be so impressed.
For dinner, we always invite friends over for a simple Lenten Catfish Fry in honor of my momâs southern heritage, and we do the Stations of the Cross, and the Tenebrae service.
Try it! Fast. Read the story of the crucifixion. (Matthew 27:11-66) Spend the hours of noon-3pm in prayer or doing quiet activities like Stations of the Cross coloring pages. Consider doing the Stations of the Cross at home with this booklet.
Post to check out:
HOW WE DO THE TRIDUUM: GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY SATURDAY
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Holy Saturday
Next up is Holy Saturday . . . a day of silence and waiting.
Here are a few things we donât do:
- We don’t attend Easter Egg Hunts
- We don’t attend early Easter brunches
- We don’t abandon our Lenten disciplines
- Or otherwise pretend that itâs already Easter when Jesusâ body is still in the tomb
Hereâs what we do:
- We dye our Easter Eggs
- We take down all our Lent decorations
- We decorate for Easter
- We begin preparations for Easter dinner.
We do preparation things, but not celebration things.
If we have some extra time, weâll get out of the house for a hike or a walk to keep the house from getting messed up again. Which is a real problem around here since everyone keeps eating and wearing clothes even though I JUST cleaned all that stuff.
Once it gets dark weâll light our family paschal candle and do a little at home lucernarium for the little kids.
A grownup will take just the big kids to the Vigil Mass, which is always a big deal for them, especially since it means getting to break their Lenten fast of treats many hours before their sleeping brothers and sisters. And the beauty and majesty of the Easter Vigil and all that . . . but also . . . treats early.
The Easter Bunny comes and fills the Easter Baskets and changes our Lenten Sacrifice Beans into Jelly Beans.
Try it! Don’t attend any Easter Egg Hunts. Dye Eggs. Remove Lent decorations. Decorate for Easter. Begin preparing for Easter dinner. Watch The Robe .
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Easter Sunday
And then itâs Easter Sunday! And there is much rejoicing!
We dig up the Alleluia that we buried in the yard on Ash Wednesday. We sing O Filli et Filliae. Loudly.
We really hit those alleluias, since itâs been a while.
We find that our Lenten Sacrifice Beans have been turned to jelly beans. We have our baskets and an Easter Egg Hunt, and get all dressed up to go to Mass as a family and have a big lovely Ham Dinner.
And Iâm going to be having a couple Dr. Peppers. At least.
So thatâs what we do. As I always have to say at the end of these things: it sounds like a lot. I know. But somehow itâs been manageable for us over many years and my kids really enjoy and benefit from these traditions. Even in the midst of Holy Week sacrifices, Holy Week traditions are something we all look forward to. If youâre just getting started, I recommend starting small, with a few things that sounded cool and/or doable for your family.
If you want stuff like this for the whole year, check out my books from Ignatius Press, The Catholic All Year Compendium and The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion. Ignatius Press also has many other lovely books for children and adults that would fit just right in Easter baskets, so check those out.
You can do this! Catholic All Year is here to help.
WE HAD EASTER, IT WAS CUTE
What will you be doing for Holy Week?
I found this post through 7QT, and I LOVE your Holy Week! Hoping to try some of these things out in our house as well. Thanks so much!
I am not even Christian, but washing feet has always moved me in Christianity; very special, teaches people how to be humble and kind to others.
You are doing such a great job, Kendra, not only raising lovely children, but showing how you love your faith and show today's Catholics in a good way. I believe, only those can respect others' religion, who at first respect their own.
P.S. with showing in a good way, I meant that modern society is terribly agressive and full of stereotypes towards people practising their faith, and this blog can prove them wrong.
Thanks for all the good ideas, I do think we will try to do some major purging and cleaning next week. We will probably still go on our Easter egg hunt.
I am so torn about the Triduum. I think it's so important to take the kids but I really don't want to. Stomach flu hit us hard last Holy week so out of love for our children and our fellow man, we stayed home with our sorry infected selves. I was a bit relieved. My husband sings in the schola so if I were to go I would be getting kids prepped and in the car and then sitting through services solo. My husband is often singing so this is something we've done before; I am not just a pessimist with an active imagination. I know from experience that the services will be 1hr 45 and obviously they are at the worst time possible for the kids (naptime on Good Friday and bedtime on Holy Saturday). I have 4 five and under. Have you always gone to these things?
No. And I still don't go to them all now!
We are able to go to Mass on Holy Thursday only because we recently found one that starts at 5:30 instead of the 7:30 one at our local parish. Before that we just did our own foot washing at home.
I have never been to the Three Hours services on Good Friday. I stay home, get the little kids down for naps just before noon, and spend those three hours in quiet time at home.
Only kids who are old enough to sit through the Vigil reverently, AND not be grumpy the next day get to come to the Vigil. At our house, that's been about 8 years old. Kids younger than that get put down to bed before we leave and stay with the grandparents.
The Mass we go to as a family is our normal 10:30am Easter morning.
For us, observing things at home has been much more effective for little kids.
We have always taken our children! Religious books for the children helped. Sit up front and whisper ever so slightly to the children what is going on.
It's nice to know I'm not just a sorry whiner. I mean I am actually, but perhaps with this there is a good reason my mommy instincts tell me it's a bad idea. đ I misspoke above, we don't go to the Easter Vigil, we go Sunday morning and probably always will because of the schola schedule. I meant Holy Thursday. Good Friday service is about an hour and a half where we go which is doable for us, but coupling it with Holy Thursday the night before (which runs close to 2 hours!) is asking a lot of the kids and my sanity. It makes me sad that it means I will likely always be the parent to miss out on Holy Thursday, since my husband can't just miss it. But it may just mean that I do.
Is it possible for you to catch a service online perhaps when the little ones are in bed? I participate in mass from home online. HE sees everything so you're good I'd venture to say but for your own heart and memories of your faith maybe this would work? thanks for this, well done!
Sounds like an amazing Holy Week! I hope Lulu cooperates today so you can visit the churches, I love that idea. Why no Easter egg hunts?
Oh wait, maybe it's only no Easter egg hunts on Holy Saturday?
Yes, just no Easter Egg hunts on Holy Saturday! Unfortunately, that seems to be when all "community" Easter events seem to happen. But we haven't much missed participating in community events, we focus on the church stuff.
I'm so torn on the egg hunts on Saturday. Back before I had kids, I lived somewhere else and attended a Catholic church that did an egg hunt the week AFTER Easter. It was perfect. But alas, I have not found that here. I am taking my 2yo to a Protestant church egg hunt on Holy Saturday this year, but doubt that will become a tradition. She just doesn't have any friends or cousins her age, and I just think she'd like it. Plus, my husband is working both Saturday and Easter Sunday, and if we stay home it will just bum me out.
Wow. I would love it if our church would have a big event like that the next week to keep Easter rolling.
I found this at EWTN, and Michelle Arnold is really solid. So I wouldn't worry:
"If you're referring to private family hunts that could easily be rescheduled for another time, yes, it would be more appropriate to do so. If by "neighborhood" you mean the immediate neighborhood, which is also easier to influence, yes, to discourage celebration of Easter until Easter begins is a good idea. (You could point out to the neighbors that Easter is a season, not just a day, and the neighborhood hunt could easily be postponed until the weekend following Easter if need be.)
But if you have in mind large community Easter egg hunts put on by churches or charities, you're free to have your kids participate or not as you choose, but there is no need to worry about them being held on Holy Saturday. Most of the time those sponsoring the community Easter celebrations aren't Catholic and the idea is to both celebrate Easter as a community on a day that they assume will not conflict with family Easter celebrations."
Michelle Arnold
Catholic Answers
These are such great suggestions. I am a total novice (am being received into the Church myself this year) and I have been unsure what to do with my girls to make Holy Week meaningful for them. Thank you! – Amy
Okay question, what is the blessing of the house on Holy Saturday?
I had never heard of it until you asked, but it seems nice! Here is some information on the custom from CatholicCulture.org (my go-to site for stuff like this): Blessing of the Home with Easter Water
Oh! I clicked on your link for the tradition of cleaning up the house in the first few days of Holy Week and it said something about doing it to prepare for the blessing of the house on Saturday. So I wondered if you explained it to your kids that way. Thanks for the link!
I'm glad to see the Easter bunny fills your baskets and changes your beans to jelly beans. I've been pretty vague in the past about who's doing that at our house–part of me didn't want to "do" the Easter bunny, but I also didn't have the heart to tell the kids it was just us, so I compromised by muttering something about Easter magic which I think had the effect of mostly just confusing them đ
The children already know about the Easter bunny anyway though–it seems pretty impossible to avoid it–so I think this year we'll just come clean and let them know that yes, it's definitely the gigantic creepy bunny who sneaks into the house and leaves them the treats đ
Hah! Yep. This is pretty much the relationship I have with the Easter Bunny too. I do not have the love for him that I have for Santa. But he can stay.
I like that the sacrifice beans turn into jelly beans, how fun! See, your house always sounds like so much fun! I tend towards the solemn and fasting stuff and often forget about the whole feasting and celebrating parts. Your blog has become a good reminder to me to go all out with those too đ
Kendra, I love your blog! As a Catholic wife and mother with #7 due in 2 months, I appreciate your insight can relate!!
I just wanted to comment that, although "Christianized" Seder Meals have become popular among Catholics in recent times, they actually violate the 1st commandment. We now have the Mass!
A good talk on this subject can be found here: http://www.romans10seventeen.org/audio-files/20080928-Seder-Meals-Violate-the-1st-Commandment.mp3
I'm not able to listen the the homily right now, but thanks so much for this question.
I think I should have been clearer about the fact that we are not in any way attempting to actually celebrate any Jewish rituals. I think that might be inappropriate because:
1. not coming from a Jewish background I wouldn't know HOW to, and I certainly wouldn't want to offend our Jewish brothers and sisters by playing at their religion,
2. It's not necessary, because Jesus has created a New Covenant (new wines into old wineskins and all that), and
3. It's not approved by the Church as a public devotion (although it's also not forbidden as a private one).
The "seder" aspect of our meal is limited to the food selection. Beyond that our traditions, like reading from the gospel and washing feet are all based in the New Testament.
Michelle Arnold goes into some detail on it at Catholic Answers.
This is one of those issues on which (until there is a decisive answer from the Bishops) good Catholics can disagree.
Thanks again for your comment!
Thanks for the clarification! I apologize for the misunderstanding!
I think I'm going to use this year's Holy Week as a reason to finally watch the Passion of the Christ. When it first came out, I was dealing with a lot of freshman-in-high-school-type anxiety and my Ma thought that it might be a little too much for me to handle. …she was probably right.
I love the idea of using the first parts of Holy Week to get your house in order. Thankfully, my family will be in town for Easter, so I don't have to worry about cooking anything except the ham I'm supposed to bring. That's a lot less stress for me.
I'd totally hide 30 pieces of silver somewhere, but my quarter stash was stolen. Is there a biblical tie-in for that?
Oh my – thank you for this reminder that Holy Week is so close! I just e-mailed my husband to remind him to ask off work for Friday.
I miss doing a seven church tour on Holy Thursday. I used to really enjoy that each year, but I can't imagine dragging little kids in and out of the car fourteen times, especially when it's so near bedtime :-/. But I think we will attempt the Easter vigil with them. Last year, we put the kids to bed at the normal time, then carried them, half-asleep into the car when it was time to leave. They both slept through the whole Mass, but I think that's fine at their age.
We cheat on the seven churches and do it during the day! It's still a lot of car seat buckling though. We might not manage all of them this year with a five month old in tow.
Thank you for the shout out Kendra! I hope the kids love the books! =D I added your own "event" in the shop tab if any of your fans want to help earn you free books. ~Molly
Wish we could be there for the entire week but will arrive on Thurs am from San Diego ready to participate. I m the fish fryer for Fri night.
I don't often find time to read blogs and to be honest this may be the only one I have ever read because Kendra is my friend. My very dear friend! I still rely on good old fashioned face-to-face and phone to catch up on stuff. I spend my whole work day on a computer so I refuse to spend any family time on it too, so no blogs. When I find myself unable to focus or am feeling rather unproductive at work… I grab a few minutes for the internet. Today was such a day and I opened this blog. I read 3-4 posts (they always warm my heart) and today low and behold she even mentions me in her post! I am Tami and I will be entering full communion with the church this Easter, PRAISE THE LORD! I am commenting here because I wanted you all to know that Kendra is a very large part of the reason I decided to become Catholic after all these years! So publicly, (and I think writing in this blog is pretty public if I understand your success here correctly) thank you Kendra! For sharing your faith and friendship with me – where would I be without you? You set a wonderful example (I've been watching and paying attention) and you have always answered my questions with grace and knowledge. God bless you! XO
Yay! Tami's here! So excited for you.
Thanks for all the ideas! This is the first year that most of the kids actually know what is going on so I was looking for things to make the week extra meaningful for them. Also, we have been doing the sacrifice bean jar and it is working great! I might need to figure out some way to extend the idea past lent.
Oh but it DOES extend past Lent! They don't just GET those jelly beans. They EARN them out just like they earned them in. So come Easter, for as long as they last, sacrifices and good deeds get them a jelly bean.
Kendra, awesome entry! I am learning SOOO much from you. I gave up social media in place for spiritual reading and stumbled on your blog after searching for things to give up for Lent just in case my social media idea fail. Because of your blog, I not only have been social media free but I've gained this wonderful information and love for my Catholicism religion. The feeling I am going through is indescribable and it's all thanks to you. And this is only through reading your blog. I can only imagine what it's like being your "real" friend. And thank you Tami for giving us a little insight of that. May God bless your journey, Tami. Welcome home. =)
These are really great ideas. I'll be visitin back next week for reminders:).
I did a spring semester in Rome in college. Some of us did the seven churches visitation. You can imagine how cool that was in Rome (maybe you've even done it?) – and we could walk from church to church.
Oh to be able to walk to the churches! That would be amazing. It took us four hours of driving last year.
Loved this post here Kendra as you have inspired me to pick up some new traditions for our family this year! I linked back to your post here on my own Holy Week Happenings post: http://asliceofsmithlife.blogspot.com/2014/04/palm-sunday-videos-easter-triduum-holy.html
Baby is crying..gotta go… have a blessed Holy Week!
I LOVE the planting real Easter grass! I want to do that in Easter baskets! But I won't because my mom got the kids all very adorable personalized fabric ones.
I'm visiting from the Conversion Diary 7QT and I love this post, so many awesome doable ideas!!! I plan to try a few of them myself – I love the idea of a foot washing on Holy Thursday, and the Fish Fry on Good Friday! I have added your blog to my Blogger feed.
Wow this was really intense! I'm sooooo impressed by your stamina and enthusiasm. Our big holiday is Valentine's Day I think. I don't remember my parents putting this much effort into any holiday, ever.
But maybe when I'm a little bit older I can keep adding to our traditions and make it right!
These are wonderful traditions! I admit, I'm a bit overwhelmed by the totality of them. Do you do all of these things every year, or does your family do whichever ones work on any given day in any given year?
Well, this was a not pregnant, easy baby year. We'll have to see what happens this year. But I have every intention of being all better by Holy Week.
But to answer your question, yes. Usually we do do all of this. But the key, I think, is that we STARTED doing all this stuff one or two at a time, and only added one or two things per year. Somehow that's made it seem manageable, even though it DOES look pretty crazy all written down in one place like this.
I love your holy week ideas! We will implement as many as possible. My husband is being Initiated into the church at the Easter vigil, and we are planning a big party! That and hosting the family Easter dinner has made Holy week this year a liturgical logistical labor đ
Love all of these ideas…and wish that I could do all of them. Unfortunately, there is no way that we will be able to do all. My goal is to choose at least one or two per day and work through those. My husband and I both work, and he's not Catholic, so preparing our kids for Easter falls to me, and that's ok, but timewise there just isn't enough for everything! Thanks for all the lovely ideas.
How do you explain the prince of egupt to kids? It's so dark…how do you explain a Good who is constantly killing people? I love the idea but I don't want my kids to have a negative idea of God, or to be afraid of Him? Thanks!
I've got this post that addresses that issue MAILBAG: WHAT IS UP WITH OLD TESTAMENT GOD? But, practically, it hasn't really come up in our home, and we watch the movie at least once a year. So, you can get out ahead of it if you want to, but it might not end up being an issue for your kids.
My children are both so upset about no Easter Vigil Mass. My son has always attended Easter Vigil Mass and our daughter joined the church last Easter Vigil and my son was Confirmed so they both are very sad that there is no Easter Vigil this year. No Tridium Masses will be a very new experience.
We also do feet washing at home and hope to do some type of veneration of the cross.
Hi Kendra! I love this post, so many good ideas and I am totally adopting your Holy Week house cleaning tradition (and using it as an excuse to immediately throw out all the play food from our toy kitchen ). One question– if we receive communion at the Easter Vigil mass, are we also permitted to receive it on Easter morning? My father and I are in disagreement about this and googling has not resulted in any clear answers.
Yes, it is permissible to receive the eucharist at the vigil and again on Easter morning. A “day” for liturgical purposes runs from midnight to midnight, and, actually, according to canon 917, the faithful are permitted to receive holy communion a second time even in one day as long as the second time is “within the eucharistic celebration in which the person participates”. (And one can always receive the eucharist if in danger of death.)