Easter in Isolation

My husband and I both have family close by, so holidays usually involve a little driving, a lot of people, and a TON of cooking.  Because of COVID-19, Easter this year looked a lot different (though there was still plenty of cooking!). 

Our tradition is to dye eggs, have a hunt, and do Easter baskets on Saturday with my husband's family.  Since we'd be staying home, I have my daughter the choice of doing all that on Saturday or Sunday.  She chose Saturday and asked how the Easter Bunny would know when to come.  She's 11, but still insisting that she believes.  I don't see how that's possible, but I'm happy to play along in more and more ridiculous ways.  So I told her that the Easter Bunny and I have a telepathic link, and I squeezed my eyes shut tight and sent him a mental message.  After that, I cooked some eggs, we got out the egg dye, and set up our station in the backyard.  It was a beautiful day! 

We did a foam swirl color kit this year.

These eggs looked much cooler before we took the foam off than after!

Once the eggs were dyed, my daughter headed off to her room so she wouldn't disturb the bunny while he hid her eggs.  He put them in some interesting places...

This one was on the wall of the shed, where the clothesline used to connect to the wall.  Oddly enough this was one of the last ones she found and she walked by it about four times!

This one was on the track of the shed's big door, which slides open like a barn door.  The Easter Bunny must have had a big jump to get it up there!

This one was hiding in a stack of bricks for a project we never finished. 

As is his custom, he left her basket once he was done hiding the eggs.
 

The Easter Bunny always brings silly string, and there is typically a silly string fight with the cousins.  Of course that couldn't happen this year, so we had a brief battle and she saved the rest for when she sees her cousins next time. 

That ended our Saturday Easter festivities, as I had to go do a grocery pickup and, while I was out, I got Panda Express for dinner (we've been doing takeout once a week during this time). 

Sunday morning for breakfast we had hot cross buns (minus the crosses), with Craisins and an orange glaze.  It was a new recipe and they were DELICIOUS.  I also made bacon AND sausage, as my family doesn't agree and I happen to like both. 

After breakfast we watched our church service online.  It's strange to be watching our service on a television, but still comforting to have a spot of normalcy (somewhat) in an otherwise very strange time.

My daughter gets a little fidgety, so during the service she made crosses out of fidget snakes she got in her Easter basket, and Tinker Toys on loan from my parents until we see them again.

Since we had a big breakfast, we didn't really want a big lunch, but I didn't want to just eat our usual boring food.  So I made deviled eggs (I don't really use a recipe for this, just dump a bunch of stuff in) and pan de yuca.  It was really good!

I let my daughter basically have unlimited screen time, since it was a holiday.  She did have to mow the lawn, though. 

Not pictured - the eye roll so hard I'm surprised she didn't hurt herself, when my husband told her she needed to mow the lawn.

And then it was time for me to start dinner.  My family doesn't like traditional foods like ham or turkey.  And I had done a grocery pickup order, but couldn't guarantee what I would actually get (they are out of seemingly random weird stuff), so I planned a menu based on what I already had in the house, with food I knew we all loved.  We ended up having Swedish meatballs, spaetzle and green beans. 

It's not pretty, but it is so, so good.

For dessert I made an apple rhubarb crumble with rhubarb from our garden.  I really wanted homemade vanilla ice cream to go with it, but my ice cream maker was not cooperating and it never froze.  I'm not sure if this is a problem with my ice cream maker, my freezer, or a little bit of both.  Fortunately we had a big tub of Cool Whip in the freezer so we had it with that instead!  Still delicious.

After dinner, it was time to get ready for bed.  My daughter has Easter Monday off from school, since she attends a private Christian school, but my husband and I still have to work.  So it was a normal Sunday evening for us!  After watching our usual YouTube videos, my daughter and I finished off the evening with our usual Easter tradition, reading The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.

If you celebrate, I hope you and yours had a good Easter.  How did you celebrate?  Did you create some new traditions?  Try some new recipes? 

He is risen, he is risen indeed!  Hallelujah!