Easter 2020

Easter came 2 weeks after we evacuated. And I was so torn with what to do... In the end, I decided we would skip going to my sisters for the weekend to gather with her family. I just wasn't ready. And I wasn't ready for Easter either. It's never been my favorite kid holiday, but I reluctantly put in an order for Easter candy and treats to pick up curb side at Target, as I didn't want the kids to miss out just because of our unexpected circumstances... especially Macy, who still believed in the bunny.

Then the day before Easter as we were eating egg salad sandwiches under a cloudless warm sky having lunch outside on the deck, Macy wondered outloud if Biggy, a YouTube kid in Australia that she follows, would have an Easter special. I asked if Easter was important to his family because of Jesus or just the bunny? She kind of sighed, I asked “are you kind of over the bunny?” and she then said she didn’t believe in him anymore... 

 Which lead to the Santa and tooth fairy truth coming out too. WOW! She said she and her friend Hannah both knew, but that she'd been "scared" to tell me because she knows how much I like the holiday traditions... 

It was such a relief! I really wasn't sad at all, and it was fun telling her all the details about our Santa suit, how we make the leprechaun footprints and who wrote the tooth fairy notes for her. 

Saturday evening I decided that we'd spark some joy in the neighborhood by making some Easter chalk drawings on the sidewalk outside of our complex-

Tate and I had a bunny drawing contest. His-

Mine-

 I won, right?

It really was so fun. Lots of people we out walking and commented and smiled. And as we walked away, I realized that we had bunny, eggs, candy, spring flowers- all the symbols of Easter. But nothing Jesus. I stood there for a second, wondering if it would offend, and then decided to be brave and share my faith with one last Easter drawing-

 Sunday morning the kids woke up to treats, but no baskets. Phew! Glad that's over, since I didn't pack them when we evacuated...

I hid their treats all around the house for them to find. In the cell phone charging station-

Where we kept the remote- 

 And what was in this big box in the dog crate?

 Christine sent us quarantine gifts, that I saved for Easter morning-

 The day was great. Different, but great. No Brian, no bunny and for the first time ever no church. I was thankful that we were able to connect virtually with so many friends and family.  I ordered a family style Italian dinner from a local restaurant and we watched church online. We'd been doing a daily devotional all week together and we watched Jesus Christ Superstar on tv, as well as an Andrea Bocelli special. How many more holidays and special events would we go through while being evacuated? I had no idea. But we made it through our first, focused on what mattered- that Jesus Christ is our savior. I’m so thankful that we’ve got our faith and still have the religious meaning of Easter that so many people don’t have. God is with us every step of the way of our very uncertain future...