I’ve been preparing for Easter for weeks.
I started gathering gifts for the kids and I splurged on a Easter dress for myself. I’d get coordinating outfits for the kids later, I told myself. I’d wait to buy out Kroger’s supply of Peeps until closer to Easter, I thought. Otherwise I’d just eat them and have to re-buy everything before Easter.
When I was shopping for my Easter dress COVID-19 was already in the U.S., and silently making its way across the world. Even though I was obsessing over every tidbit of news about the virus, I had no idea what was coming. I could have never predicted that we would spend Easter in quarantine. If I had been truly prepared, I would have stocked our Easter baskets with face masks and toilet paper.
We started the morning with a scavenger hunt to find Easter baskets. We did this for the first time last year and that’s how long it took for it to become a beloved tradition.
I didn’t tell the kids to put on their bunny ears — they did that on their own. (Which made me love it even more.)
Having kids that can read makes this so much more fun.
Both years, the kids run around looking for clues, only to find the Easter baskets set-up where they started — in the dining room. Eventually they’ll figure this out and I’ll have to be more creative.
We watched a livestream of church in our living room, then put on our Easter best for a socially-distanced visit with family. This is the first time we’ve seen our family in over a month, and the first time in our lives that visiting family has felt controversial.
We did all the things that we’ve been told — stayed outside, maintained six feet, and washed and sanitized often. With all that, it still felt scary and uncertain to see family outside of our household. This new era of fear of a microscopic virus is tough to navigate. Never again will I take holiday gatherings (or actually, any type of gathering) for granted.
This is probably the first thing that we’ve done that has felt remotely normal, even though the normal was veiled in confusion and fear.
I keep thinking that we needed Easter this year more than ever. We have been wading around in despair, uncertainty, sickness, and loss for over a month. We are sad and hopeless, and today we put on fancy clothes and declare that light has not overcome the darkness. These are the times when hope shines the brightest.
We are sad, and yet we are celebrating. We celebrate because our Savior has conquered sadness and death. He is risen so that we might have life.
Happy Easter, from our home to yours.
He is risen indeed!
