My Darlings, This Easter

Photo by <a href="/photographer/wolak-40681">wojciech wolak</a> from <a href="https://freeimages.com/">FreeImages</a>

Oh, my Darlings, you are enough! This world has thrown all of us into the crazy unknown of social isolation and staying home.  We are doing things that we have never been asked to do before.
I want you to know we are all in this together, but apart.

As I have been reading through posts on Facebook I am realizing that we are all doing the best we can, but Easter has added some new elements to this social distancing thing.

We are missing our church families and traditions.
We are missing our people and activities that are so much a part of our memories and traditions.
We are doing things for the first time or doing them alone for the first time.

I write this with the desire to help you rethink your "normal."  Let's face it our "normal" has been snatched from us.

I think this is a time to simplify our holiday celebrations, and rethink about what is most important to US.  This is not the time to search social media for more ideas!

So jumping in to my heart on this season.  Some of you are really stressing about Easter.  And a whole lot of other things....

When we became a foster family, I had to face the fact that my perfectionist ways were stressing me out.  I wanted things to be the same way they were with my birth children.  I learned this was not going to happen, and I was the problem.  I had to change my expectations.  My Darlings, this is what I believe each one of us must do in this new climate.  We will never be able to recreate the same traditions this year that we have in past years.  We can't go to the same places, and we can't see the same people.  Let that sink in, because if you don't you are going to be very disappointed this Easter.

Okay, did that set in?  Are you ready for the next step?  Figure out what you can do.
But remember I said we are going to simplify or holidays and our life.  Here are some questions to get you thinking.  What are the important parts about your traditional Easter celebrations?
For me they are Church, Easter Dinner, Resurrection Rolls, and Easter baskets.  (typically we also buy new clothes and get dressed fancy, we might do an Easter egg hunt, we might color Easter eggs, we try to do the Resurrection Eggs, and decorate)  But if I have to really simplify then the four things I don't want to give up are Church, Easter Dinner, Resurrection Rolls, and Easter Baskets for the kiddos.

Photo by <a href="/photographer/Mart1n-51953">Martin BOULANGER</a> from <a href="https://freeimages.com/">FreeImages</a>

Now, how do I make those four things a priority this year?  Well, we are going to watch our church service together as a family, and we have already watched a very personal communion/Passover message from our Pastor and a Good Friday message as well.  The kids and I have been listening to the audio version of Mark and the account of the events leading up to the cross. (I will include links below so you can watch & listen too!)

Easter Dinner, I have been making this myself for years, but have simplified our menu a lot.  Cooking by yourself for 6 or more people instead of 3-4 really does change your mindset about what is important.  I no longer make a breakfast casserole for holiday mornings, instead we make cinnamon rolls from a package, and have fresh fruit.  Okay, it is not as healthy, but it is easy.  Sometimes the idea is to have a tradition, and just get everyone fed.  If you can't have your regular traditions this year why not do something completely different and easy?  Let this be a memory, instead of a tradition. Think, "remember the year we stayed home and had______________for Easter?" 

While we are on the subject of food, how can you simplify the Easter dinner, especially, if you are cooking it alone for the first time? Well, you may not be able to duplicate aunt Martha's custard pie or recreate one of those lamb cakes, but who says you have to?  Ask your family and yourself, "what is your favorite part of Easter dinner?" In our house that is the Ham, the mashed potatoes, the deviled eggs, and the dinner rolls.  I add a few sides and a yummy dessert, but honestly, if you know what the favorites are, and can somehow make that happen, then do that.  Don't try to recreate the meal exactly as it is when you get together with your people, instead figure out what your immediate household needs to "feel" special.  Let yourself off the hook.  I had to do this!  I was killing myself for a few years, trying to have the perfect Pinterest holiday and getting grouchy at my people, because I couldn't make it happen.  Ask yourself, "what do I want my people to remember about this holiday?" I bet the answer isn't that I was grouchy and grumpy all day.

The resurrection rolls we make are so easy, and a great way to retell the story of Jesus' death and resurrection in a way that even our littlest one can retell the story. I'm sure partly because we use a chicken that quacks the chicken dance, as a guard to the tomb :-). I was able to purchase everything we needed at our local Aldi.

Finally, our Easter baskets are simple.  We reuse the same ones year after year and they contain only a little candy.  We have children with ADHD and some GI compromised systems, so candy is not a really great idea.  We won't fill the baskets with a lot of toys, and dollar store gadgets that are in the trash in a week.  We do give everyone a little something, something, this year they are getting, magnetic dress up dolls, kinetic sand, socks, and hats, this is individually, not everyone.  We had to simplify years ago, because when our children started coming three at a time, and they were not raised with our same values and traditions, we made our own, and we haven't looked back.

Photo by <a href="/photographer/juliaf-55850">Julia Freeman-Woolpert</a> from <a href="https://freeimages.com/">FreeImages</a>

Next year will be different.  Maybe we will all return to our traditions, maybe we will keep the simplified versions, and maybe we will have a combination of the two, but for sure it will not be the same as this year.

I sincerely hope, my Darlings, this has given you permission to embrace what is and let it be what it needs to be for this season.

I plan to start writing again.  I have some things on my heart, including how this loss of normal initially affected my children and how we helped them through it.

I want to use this blog platform to help you over the next few months to find your new normal.  If I find resources I will be sharing them.  I still have no affiliate links, anything I share is something I have used or believe to be useful.  I do not receive anything for sharing them.  If I ever sharing anything that I receive something for sharing I will let you know up front.

resurrection rolls  
 Penn Yan Assembly of God Sunday morning Live Stream
Pastor's Easter, Communion, Passover chats can be found here.