Making Easter a Season: Our Family’s “Jerusalem Dinner” Tradition

A few years ago, I heard a message that completely changed the way I view Easter.

In a General Conference address, Gary E. Stevenson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invited us to make Easter more than just a single Sunday—to make it a season centered on Jesus Christ.

That invitation stayed with me and felt so important. We started implementing things the next Easter to heed his invitation, and it made Easter one of my favorite holidays! Maybe even my favorite.

Why We Started Celebrating Easter as a Season

In 2025, I decided to really try it.

Instead of letting Easter come and go in one day (often overshadowed by eggs and candy), I wanted to slow down and intentionally focus our home on the Savior for multiple weeks leading up to it.

Something beautiful happened. We had many sacred, quiet moments filled with revelation and testimony building experiences. A deeper feeling of peace and joy in our Savior entered filled our home.

I gained a stronger, more personal testimony of Jesus Christ—and I knew this was something I wanted to continue, especially for my children.

I want them to feel about Easter the way they feel about Christmas: Anticipation, joy, meaning, and excitement centered on Jesus Christ.

Why Food Traditions Matter

If there’s one thing I’ve learned as a mom (and food blogger!), it’s this:

Food creates memory.

It brings people together. It makes moments feel special. It turns teaching into something tangible and fun.

So one of our favorite traditions we’ve started is something we now call:

🌿 Our “Jerusalem Dinner”

This is a simple, hands-on meal where we eat foods that are common in Jerusalem and the surrounding region—similar to what people in Christ’s time would have eaten.

It turns dinner into an experience.

We sit together, talk about Jesus, and connect food to scripture and history in a way that even little kids can understand. I’ve listed a few of the other activities we incorporate down below.

What to Serve for a Jerusalem Dinner (Keep It Simple!)

If this is your first time doing a Jerusalem dinner, don’t feel like you need to make everything.

The goal isn’t to recreate a perfect, authentic feast—it’s to create a simple, meaningful experience centered on Christ.

Think of this more like a Mediterranean-style spread or charcuterie board, where you pick a few items and let everyone build their own plates.

🫒 Build Your Jerusalem Dinner

Here are ideas you can mix and match (I’ve linked some of my favorite recipes we have made, but you can always go with store bought to make it even more simple!):

Bread + dips:

• Pita bread (homemade or store-bought)
• Hummus
• Tzatziki sauce
• Chocolate hummus (serve with fruit like apples/strawberries!)
• Za’atar mixed with olive oil (Za’atar is a yummy seasoning popular in Israel. One of my personal favorites from my time studying abroad in Jerusalem! We would mix it with a little olive oil to dip our pita bread in almost every night with dinner.)

Main Entree Ideas:

• Falafel
• Lentil soup
• Simple cousous or grain bowls

Fresh sides:

• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes
• Carrots or bell peppers (for dipping)
• Olives
• Fresh herbs (mint, parsley)

Fruit + natural sweetness:

• Dates
• Grapes
• Pomegranates
• Figs (fresh or dried)
• Honey

Extras (optional):

• Pistachios or mixed nuts
• Chocolate covered pistachios
• Feta cheese or other soft cheeses
• Hard-boiled eggs
• Olive oil for dipping
• Walnut + Date Brownie Bites

Drink:

• Grape juice

You can keep it as simple as: Pita + hummus + tzatziki + fruit

Or go a little bigger with: Falafel + pita + dips + veggies + dates + nuts

Either way, it creates a hands-on, meaningful experience that helps bring the scriptures to life.

Ways to Make the Evening Extra Meaningful

As much as I love the food, what really makes this night special are the traditions we build around it.

Here are a few things we’ve started doing—or plan to do as our kids get older:

Recreate a Passover-Style Experience

As my kids grow, I would love to incorporate a more complete recreation of a Passover meal to help them better understand the context of the Last Supper and what Christ experienced.

If you want to tie this in more closely with Holy Week, it can be especially meaningful to do this dinner on Thursday (the day of the Last Supper).

🎥 Watch Christ-Centered Videos Together

We love ending the evening by watching videos depicting:

• The Last Supper
• The Garden of Gethsemane

This helps shift the focus from just learning about Christ to feeling closer to Him.

🕊️ Testimony Easter Egg Tree

This has become one of my absolute favorite traditions.

We:

• Write our favorite scriptures about Christ
• Write our testimonies of Him on small pieces of paper
• Place them inside Easter eggs

Then we place the eggs on a small olive tree (we’ve found beautiful ones at Trader Joe’s 🌿).

As a family, we pray about who might need some love or upliftment—and then anonymously deliver it to someone.

It turns Easter into not just a time of remembering Christ, but acting like Him.

Making It Meaningful (Even for Kids)

The beauty of this tradition is that it doesn’t have to be complicated to be powerful.

As you eat, you can talk about things like:

• What foods might Jesus have eaten
• The Last Supper
• Simplicity and gratitude
• How people lived during His time

Even young kids can connect when they’re tasting, touching, and experiencing.

Why This Tradition Matters to Me

This has become one of my favorite nights of the entire Easter season.

Not because it’s fancy.
Not because it’s perfect.

But because it feels intentional.

It helps us:

• Slow down
• Focus on Christ
• Create lasting, faith-filled memories as a family

Final Thought

I’m so grateful for the invitation from Elder Stevenson to make Easter a season.

It has changed our home.

And if you’re looking for a simple place to start—this Jerusalem dinner is one of the easiest, most meaningful traditions you can try.