Shall I just dive in, then?
On Sunday, we spent the day celebrating Easter during a quarantine and pandemic. I was a bit nervous about how the day would go. Piper is our resident "celebrator of all things". Like all children, she relishes family traditions, but I suspect it is even more true for her than the average child.
Two weeks ago, she realized that Easter would be different this year. She had been talking for weeks about our Easter "traditions" (basically, what we did last year) and how excited she was for them to happen. They circled largely around the fact that our friends, the Bell family, came over last year. We cooked out and played in the very cold river. We had a massive egg hunt, with each child looking for their own color. It was, truly, such a beautiful day. She was right to want to duplicate it every year.
I did my best to let her grieve that day, and reminded her that it was ok to be sad, and that part of being a McCracken entails 'making the best of it' whenever we can. She went to bed still quite sad. I was worried.
Anyway, I didn't have to be. We had such a spectacular day and I did hear her say that it was the "best Easter ever", and then sort of backtrack, but not retract her claim.
We woke up in the morning and did a "resurrection egg" hunt, explaining the story of Jesus' final days via 12 eggs with small items inside.
We had a big breakfast and watched children's church on our tv. We stumbled our way through the end portion where the girls were supposed to write down their sins. We maybe took over from there when we saw the girls writing "when I get mad and sad". Which I believe are part of the human experience, not 'sin'. We want to be careful to raise children who believe that instead of being born into original sin at birth, it's possible that they were born into original innocence. They were a blank slate. and that their anger or their sadness or the parts of them that make them a human being are not shunned or called sinful. We don't want to raise them to be afraid that God hates them, or that they might go to hell if they feel jealous or angry from time to time. Anyway, I just cannot look at my children who were each born with incredibly kind and good natures and deliver a message that says the opposite, or imply that neurologically developmentally appropriate behavior (like saying the word ' no', 'me', and 'mine' before most other words) has any other meaning ascribed to it than it is part of how the brain works at the start of life.
I DIGRESS.
We went to McDonalds for Happy Meals for lunch (that we had to warm up in the oven to make sure were kept safe, of course). Grammy Verlee sent McD's gift cards and it was honestly such a special treat.
We had a large egg hunt in the front yard. Grandma Deb came to watch from a distance. The girls did great staying 6 feet away from her. I made two loaves of sourdough bread and gave one to Mom.
We had a dinner "feast". Grilled steaks. Cheesy potatoes. Bread. Fruit. and of course, most importantly, our traditional Shirley Temples that we have for every holiday.
It was a beautiful day and I'm quite thankful for that.
On Sunday, we spent the day celebrating Easter during a quarantine and pandemic. I was a bit nervous about how the day would go. Piper is our resident "celebrator of all things". Like all children, she relishes family traditions, but I suspect it is even more true for her than the average child.
Two weeks ago, she realized that Easter would be different this year. She had been talking for weeks about our Easter "traditions" (basically, what we did last year) and how excited she was for them to happen. They circled largely around the fact that our friends, the Bell family, came over last year. We cooked out and played in the very cold river. We had a massive egg hunt, with each child looking for their own color. It was, truly, such a beautiful day. She was right to want to duplicate it every year.
I did my best to let her grieve that day, and reminded her that it was ok to be sad, and that part of being a McCracken entails 'making the best of it' whenever we can. She went to bed still quite sad. I was worried.
Anyway, I didn't have to be. We had such a spectacular day and I did hear her say that it was the "best Easter ever", and then sort of backtrack, but not retract her claim.
We woke up in the morning and did a "resurrection egg" hunt, explaining the story of Jesus' final days via 12 eggs with small items inside.
We had a big breakfast and watched children's church on our tv. We stumbled our way through the end portion where the girls were supposed to write down their sins. We maybe took over from there when we saw the girls writing "when I get mad and sad". Which I believe are part of the human experience, not 'sin'. We want to be careful to raise children who believe that instead of being born into original sin at birth, it's possible that they were born into original innocence. They were a blank slate. and that their anger or their sadness or the parts of them that make them a human being are not shunned or called sinful. We don't want to raise them to be afraid that God hates them, or that they might go to hell if they feel jealous or angry from time to time. Anyway, I just cannot look at my children who were each born with incredibly kind and good natures and deliver a message that says the opposite, or imply that neurologically developmentally appropriate behavior (like saying the word ' no', 'me', and 'mine' before most other words) has any other meaning ascribed to it than it is part of how the brain works at the start of life.
I DIGRESS.
We went to McDonalds for Happy Meals for lunch (that we had to warm up in the oven to make sure were kept safe, of course). Grammy Verlee sent McD's gift cards and it was honestly such a special treat.
We had a large egg hunt in the front yard. Grandma Deb came to watch from a distance. The girls did great staying 6 feet away from her. I made two loaves of sourdough bread and gave one to Mom.
We had a dinner "feast". Grilled steaks. Cheesy potatoes. Bread. Fruit. and of course, most importantly, our traditional Shirley Temples that we have for every holiday.
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