Holy Pascha

Finally! Holy Pascha service. We celebrate this liturgy at 10:30 pm on Sat. night. We made all the kids lay down to nap in preparation for the long night. This is how is goes. 

1. Everyone has a snack and then gets into bed.

2. Cam and I go and lay down.

3. Cam and I fall asleep. We sleep for 3 minutes and then George wakes us by announcing the toilet is plugged. Cam attends to the toilet.

4. Cam and I fall back asleep....after about 20 minutes.

5. Sis comes in to ask us how much longer she has to lay in bed. ARGH!! 

We all laid in bed for 2 hours. Cam and I slept off and on for some of the time. Kids did not sleep AT ALL! Not a wink.

Then we get up, shower and get in our spiffy outfits. The kids argue about what I've laid out for them to wear....Cam backs me up. It's Pascha...and you will wear your shirt tucked in with a belt. :)

Sis slept for about 10 minutes on the way to church. Don't we look cute?! This is my new Stitch Fix Easter dress. I love it!

Papa and George...with his tucked in shirt.

Tuba ready for his favorite night of the year.

The boys on the altar ready for the service. 

The liturgy is very beautiful. We process outside around the church building while singing Christ Is Risen. The bells are rung as we file back in. The music is amazing!

At about 1:30 the liturgy concludes and we head downstairs to our fellowship hall to celebrate and break the fast. We bring baskets of the foods we have fasted from....meat, dairy, wine....etc.

We always have the same things in our basket....cheese, deviled eggs, salami, smoked salmon, cream cheese, crackers, chocolate, cookies, root beer, and wine! 

It's really fun. Everyone visits and celebrates.

This year we headed for home at 3:15 am. Sis slept for 15 minutes during the service. George slept the entire service and woke up to celebrate. The big boys were all awake the whole night. Everyone quickly fell asleep in the van.

We plopped into bed at 4:00 am....with a last warning to the kids....DO NOT wake us up....even if the toilet is plugged.

I woke up at 9:45!!!! I've never slept that late! Moses, George and Patrick were already up. Tuba got up a bit after me. Sis and Cam slept until almost 11:00. Wow!!

Then....we eat, regroup and head to church....again!