Joyous Pascha!

Christ is Risen!!

I have so enjoyed reading all of my beloved

Orthodox blog friends entries

and pictures on Pascha!

How can we not express our joy at the Feast of Feasts

and of Christ's Death and Resurrection which

secured our salvation!

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This Pascha was beautiful...

such precious times for us.

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I only pray that we can deepen in Pascha,

keep it in us,

have it meld into our bones, our soul.

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Beautiful moments for me included...

putting my baskets in the church hall,

with about 4 extra containers with cookies;

having my Pascha (the bread) from my Ukrainian

family;

seeing the children wave their candles;

little babies miraculously sleeping amidst the

joy-filled proclamations of

Christ is Risen! in numerous languages;

a short walk outside with a dear friend and her

young daughter

enjoying the weather being good despite

the forecast;

and the processions -

lots of wind though candles were blown out,

relit and then all over again;

the brilliant blaze of light of Pascha when reentering the church;

singing the Angel cried;

the bells of Pascha;

wishing to be there forever and wanting only

a bit more of it to get within me;

looking at the icon of the Resurrection in all the glory and

whiteness;

nothing can compare and no one save Christ is worthy

of such a glorious feast!

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Here is what I did to prepare for the earthly food,

which comes after the heavenly food of Christ

in His Holy Eucharist on Pascha.

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I baked almost 200 cookies!

Yep!

In my small apartment with no counter space!

My coffee table worked just fine:

(Notice the spray bottle by the cookies?

it is the only thing that kept Cleo away from them!)

It was a mad dash all day,

with a trip to the store in the middle of it.

I made...

Chocolate chip cookies (4 batches)

Molasses cookies (1 batch)

I tried to make meringue cookies but it was my first try

so they were not whipped enough but it was still fun!

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Since I don't have a car and walk to church

but was wearing my once a year

pretty Pascha white outfit

and my suit case with about 180 cookies at least

and Pascha basket things

was heavy:

So I took a taxi with all my cookies to church!

(mind you I live near to church so it did not cost much;

it's only a 30 minute walk so about 5-8 minute drive)

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Here's my Pascha breakfast the next day...

hot chocolate

my Pascha (the bread)

cheese

eggs

homemade beef jerky

chocolate chip cookie

thick yogurt with honey

and another smaller bread...

After this yummy feast

I made a new chocolate cake recipe

called Velvet Chocolate Cake,

a very moist soft cake!

And I tried making an egg, milk, butter and Cinnamon with raisins

with egg noodles (Ukrainian) casserole;

it was good but I have to figure out how to make it look

nicer next time as while the taste was lovely,

it did not look as nice.

These I shared with various church family members...

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I still don't know if I am staying or leaving Ottawa

for work

so baking all these things for Pascha

(I got a big basket for 5.00 used and put two batches of the

chocolate chip cookies in it to

give out on Pascha after the liturgy and basket blessing)

was even more important to me.

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Wish I could of shared all the cookies with you my blog friends!

Joyous Bright Week to you all!

Christ is Risen!