Family traditions connect us to past and future generations. They provide meaning and connection, as well as a sense of ritual and comfort. And they can create - and help to preserve - some of life's most moving moments.

Easter traditions can help to usher in a season of love, rejuvenation, and abundance. Here are seven ideas for sharing the sweetness of this special season:

- Start a kindness wreath for your doorway. For the week of Easter, give each family member 10 or more ribbons in bright spring colors. Each time a family member reaches out to someone in kindness during the week, they simply tie another ribbon onto the wreath.

- Ask your children to make a special drawing or a collage that depicts what Easter means for them. After you display them during the Easter season, scan them or take a photo and record the artwork in a special journal or album for a treasured Easter keepsake.

- Create a Garden Journal. Cover a composition book with spring patterned papers or photos/clippings of your favorite flowers. Document the process of creating your family garden this year. Make sure to include photos of your family members digging in the dirt. Record their favorite flowers and their favorite part of working in the garden...and, of course, lots of journaling and flower pressings.

- Fill an Easter basket with cheerful messages, handmade cards, or simple gifts. Then leave the basket anonymously on a friend's doorstep.

- If you have young children, video- or audio-tape them singing a fun seasonal song. Tapes of "Here comes peter cottontail" and "Little Bunny Foo Foo" can make treasured mementos. Share the tapes with distant family and friends.

- When it's time for your Easter brunch or Easter dinner, give each guest a 6x6 sheet of cardstock and ask them to handwrite a couple of special messages for the holiday...perhaps ways they are feeling renewed or grateful in their lives. Snap a photo of each guest and create a quick and simple 6x6 mini-album as a keepsake featuring one page for each guest (with their photo and contribution.)

- Make some handmade Easter greeting cards to send to family and friends. Or renew friendships by hostessing a card-making party where each guest makes 5 to 10 friendship cards. Make a point to send out five cards this spring to people with whom you would like to rejuvenate a relationship.

This holiday, may you embrace and celebrate the beauty that comes into our lives through our family and friends. (And enjoy lots of chocolate!)