Saving Easter

This photo sums up my kids' personalities perfectly!  

Easter 2020

Blame it on Corona virus or lockdown or parental lack of planning ahead, but the Easter Bunny took this year off.  I’m not sure if he is laid up in one of the thousands of hospital beds using one of the precious ventilators on his cute, twitchy bunny nose, or perhaps he is about to go bonkers inside his burrow in lockdown with his precious little Easter Bunnies-in-training.  Heck, maybe he saw the chance for a vacation from all the egg-hiding, and is binge-watching Tiger King with the rest of you lucky unlimited data streamers.  Whatever the reason, there were no baskets full of plastic grass or chocolate bunnies or (my favorite) Reese’s Pieces Eggs aboard Field Trip this year.  Does this even count as Easter?  Do I still get to maintain my ‘Mom’ title, or have I forfeited those privileges with my blatent child neglect?

In the morning, when I realized this would be the first year without some sort of basket from some sort of bunny, my mind churned.  Moms are the ones that keep their children’s dreams alive.  Seriously, I think if dads were in charge, there would be no Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus or Elf on the Shelf (gasp!).  Our poor children would be living such dull lives with so little lies to believe and so little over indulgence.  I shudder to think of it.

(Sorry to that 1% of dads who actually carry this torch for their sweet, believing kiddos!  You are the few, faithful ones.)

It was obvious, I could not (would not) be perpetuating the Easter Bunny charade, but I still wanted to give my kids an Easter to remember.  The churn continued.

Ah-ha!  Yes!  For the past 3 months, Michael, our planning kid, has been asking, “When’s Easter?”  When I finally admitted that I didn’t know, because it changes days every year, I probed further.

“Why?”

“I just wanna know if we’ll be somewhere that has WHITE eggs.”  Oh, the sweet wonderings of a kid who has been in so many brown-egg countries.  It had been years since we’d had white eggs to dye.  The brown ones just don’t work.  When we were walking, gape-mouthed, through the grocery store in Guam in December, the white eggs were what he honed in on.  Yeah, he noticed the Jif peanut butter, too, but I think this was the moment he got started with his Easter date obsession.  It was those white eggs.

Creating a dyed masterpiece

Okay, it was decided.  We had white eggs.  We had vinegar.  We had food coloring.  We were going to dye the heck out of some Easter eggs.  I mean, we have WHITE EGGS!  There’s really no other choice.  So, we dyed eggs... six eggs.  This means each of the kids can dye two and Mom and Dad get to dye one, because six is the exact number I would need to make egg salad sandwiches the following day.  (We are still rationing, remember?  I know, I’m withholding so much joy, revoke my parental rights immediately.)  But somehow, only having two to dye increased their motivation exponentially.   These are my only two chances to create a masterpiece.  I gotta go all out.  Perhaps, less is actually more.

The idea for my next mission in Operation Save Covid-19 Easter came when I opened the food stores and found marshmallows.  (Thank you, Guam supermarket!)  Yep, it was time for a baking bonding moment - Resurrection Rolls.  We layered the ingredients in the bread machine and the dough was made while we were dying eggs.  By the time our fingertips were various shades of dye, it was time to roll out the dough, dip those marshmallows, and roll ‘em up!  Presto!  Perhaps this plan was coming together.

We baked a double batch and brought some of the warm rolls into the resort which we’re anchored near.  Every afternoon around two o’clock, we’ve been having a Mexican Train Domino competition.  The few staff members stranded here love the distraction and especially loved the sweets we shared with them this time!  Easter 2020 was becoming memorable.

Again, prime example of kids' personalities

Our Resurrection Rolls

But, honestly, each Easter isn’t Easter because it’s memorable; Easter is about remembering.

Remembering who Jesus is and the hope we have in Him.  Sure, the plastic grass and dyed eggs make fun family memories, but I don’t want to miss the beautiful truth that Easter represents.  He loves me.  He died for me.  He redeemed me.  He arose.  He is alive!  During all this Corona virus upheaval, we can be confident that He is with us and offers grace, hope, and perfect peace.  That is what Easter is all about.

Elizabeth's work of egg art