Easter Weekend 2020

As I’m sure so many of you experienced this weekend, to me, the truth of Easter has never felt so immediate, so needed, so poignant, so prominent as it did this year. In the midst of such pain, it’s clear that this world is not as it should be. What a beautiful and welcome message that the worst thing is never the last thing – and that hope is the very surest thing. Stripped of much of the dressing, removed from our church home, and without even the usual space to contemplate (hello, small children!), this weekend didn’t feel as “set apart” as holy occasions often do – but, God still made his truth known.

While this Easter will always be remembered as unlike any other, in many ways, it looked like so many Easters we’ve experienced together, especially living so far from our families. I thought I’d share a little peek, if you’d like to see!

On Saturday morning, I did our usual grocery run, this time with mask in place. Had to document this very surreal, now semi-normal, occurrence.

Then we headed out for a family bike ride – we’ve done one for the last few Saturday mornings, now that the weather is warmer, which has been glorious!

After naps and quiet time, the boys planted a last bush in our back bed (lantana! come on, butterflies!) and the girls painted wooden eggs. Then, we headed to a woodsy path in our neighborhood to cut down a branch for our Easter tree. We ended up cutting down a rather large branch (it was quite a production carrying it back), but it certainly made a splash on our table. Here it is in action on Easter morning, pre-eggs being hung!

After the baskets were unpacked and enjoyed (the watercolor palette was a big hit and June immediately stripped off her pajamas and put on her “twirly dress,” haha!), we sat down to breakfast – cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, bacon, and a carrot orange smoothie.

Knowing we’d want them on Easter morning, I searched for weeks for Pillsbury cinnamon rolls at the grocery store — to no avail. The week before, I broke down and bought Sister Schubert frozen rolls, and they were surprisingly good! John even said he liked them better than the Pillsbury ones :)

P.S. Those gingham placemats are on super sale right now! We LOVE them and they come in a really pretty blue color, too!

After breakfast, we changed into our Easter finery, lit candles, and watched our home church’s live stream. The choir prerecorded the anthem over Zoom, which was a fun touch :)

Then, we headed to our backyard for an egg hunt! Our eggs were stuffed with bunny grahams, frosted animal crackers, and fruit snacks. What worked well for our differing ages: we told June that only Shep could collect the blue eggs, but everything else was fair game (and I hid the blue in easier spots). Seeing the rocks Shep gathered in his basket made me laugh so hard, ha!

We made our best attempt at family photos, Zoomed with both sides of the family, took a walk around our neighborhood, listened to a Triduum playlist John put together on repeat, and ate Easter dinner: deviled eggs to start, then ham, twice-baked potatoes, asparagus, rolls, fancy sparkly drink, and our favorite raspberry pavlova.

Two more sweet moments from the day I want to remember: the first bloom of the year unfurled on Jack’s rose Sunday morning, and on Sunday evening, right before bed, John flipped to this Andrea Bocelli concert, broadcast on Youtube. Something about the soaring music paired with the imagery of vast, beautiful, empty spaces around the world was surprisingly moving to me. I highly recommend it if you’re looking for a peaceful way to spend half an hour.

If you celebrated, I hope your Easters were joyful and reflective, friends! I’d love to hear something you’ll always remember from this year’s celebration, or a highlight from your weekend, if you’d like to share.

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