Dammit, Hali Weekends /// Easter Sunday Under Quarantine

I think most of us can agree that Easter this year was far from normal.

Despite the stay-home, stay-safe order that is in effect for our area, Sunday was still the highlight of our weekend.

We woke up, and for the first time in weeks, actually got ready for the day as we would if we were spending the holiday with family. It felt really good to put on a full face of makeup, curl my hair, and wear one of my favorite dresses that I haven’t worn in months (even if we were only sitting at home).

I even set up my phone’s tripod and we took family photos. Even though the day wasn’t typical, that was no reason to sit around and sulk. We still had reason to celebrate, and I wasn’t about to waste the day being angry at the circumstances.

Plus, it was Jack’s first Easter. Why would we not start building our own family traditions? And you can bet your britches that I still dressed him in his Easter jammies before bed on Saturday night and then put him in his Easter outfit I bought months ago (before he was born), and I snapped all the pictures a proud mama could snap.

I think something to remember during these days of uncertainty is that we only get each day to live once. As difficult as things are right now, we should not waste them being mad or upset. Doing so solves nothing, and it’s more important now than ever to be thankful for all we have. If your family is healthy and you can hug them (or video chat with them), you have food to eat, running water, and electricity, then please try to wake up each day with a grateful heart.

It has not escaped me how blessed we are to have been able to celebrate Easter as a family of three. Not only because of the pandemic ripping across the globe right now, but because for years I spent every holiday longing for exactly what Justin and I have now.

Holidays are most difficult when you’re trying to conceive (and have been for a while). When your heart longs for a child and family of your own, the fact that it isn’t happening for you is magnified on those days.

So, you better believe that I soaked up every second of the day’s celebration with my little family. I refused to let this virus steal the joy of the day from me.

We made the best of our Easter dinner and used technology to “eat” with my husband’s family via Zoom.

This weekend was also Justin’s birthday (32!) and our 10-year anniversary. We celebrated on Friday night with a big dinner of steak and scallops instead of being at the beach like we had planned.

Then, on Saturday, we spent the day doing different projects around the house. Justin mowed and weedeated the yard, and I spent most of the day cleaning out our spare bedroom.

If you follow me on Instagram then you know that room is the Monica Geller closet of our house (that’s a “Friends” reference for those who aren’t fans of the show). Seriously, everything that doesn’t have a place in our house goes in that room and almost never comes out.

We have a lot of big changes coming in the next few months, so we really needed to get a head start leaning out that space. I was able to make some headway on it, though. I even found all of the pictures I’ve had printed through the years and my old family pictures (peep the photos from my family’s first trip to Walt Disney World in the mid-90s).