Last year we didn't have Easter due to the beginnings of Covid and how freaked out everyone was because of it. I mean we could have had it but everyone decided that they didn't want to do it so we didn't. This was probably the second time in my whole life that I could remember that I didn't celebrate Easter. One year it was in college and I couldn't come home because I didn't have any transportation and Easter 2020 is the second time.
This year, Kevin, Karla and Tracy weren't coming and Grandpa would come but he can't physically leave the facility he is now residing in. He moved into Bonaventure in late February which is literally half a mile from my house on Yelm Highway. So if something were to happen, I am nearby to help out.
A few weeks beforehand, Ben and I were trying to find a new recipe that didn't involve making a ham for Easter dinner and came across something called Rotini Spinach and Artichoke Casserole and everyone but Jenn and Mom would eat it. I didn't care because I wanted to do something new. I went to the dollar store a couple times, a trip to Walmart and Fred Meyer to pick up goodies for everyone's Easter baskets and wanted to get people stuff that they would actually like and or use. I got the Easter baskets down from Grammie and Grandpa's attic and cleaned them up and put new grass inside them on the Tuesday before Easter. They were looking pretty good with some TLC. They've been up in the attic for three years. I washed all of the plastic eggs in the bath tub on Wednesday. I filled the Easter baskets on Thursday and Friday.
Dad put money inside of the plastic eggs from Grandpa's safe (something Grammie and Grandpa did for years) and I put candy in the bigger eggs. Grandma gave me some more eggs and candy on Saturday when I was in Rainier dumping off the recycle and working in Mom and Dad's yard. I spent Saturday evening working on putting stuff away, vacuuming, laundry, moving tables and getting the decorations out. I was so exhausted after helping Mom, Dad and Doug in the yard. I was ready to go to bed. Ben was on a 24-hour shift at the station so I talked to him for a bit before I crashed.
Saturday evening I made a cake out of my dinosaur shaped pan I found at the Goodwill. It was Easter Funfetti with yellow confetti frosting.
Sunday morning I got up around 9:30 and I wanted to die. I was so sore and still kinda tired from the day before. I think I over did it. I ate a light breakfast and started working on the stuff I didn't get to the day before. I wiped down all the tables, got the Easter decorations all set up but had to make sure the cats didn't bother them.
Once Ben got up from a short nap, he got home at 8 a.m., he could help me with some stuff. He didn't get much sleep the night before because they were busy. I let him sleep until around 11ish. We moved the Total Gym into the garage and helped bring in the chairs. We put the table cloths on, he put the plates, silverware, napkins and cups on the table while I started getting the dinner ingredients out.
I wasn't sure how long this meal would take so he helped me chop up the artichokes, the onion, the butter and the spinach was already chopped up so we didn't have to work that hard. I got the water boiling for the noodles and off we went. I followed the instructions word for word so we didn't mess up the meal. We drained noodles, got the sauce mixed up, the casserole pans all greased up and we had to be creative splitting the batch into two. We made it work.
We got the two casseroles into the oven and I proceeded to clean up some stuff in the kitchen because the mess was overwhelming. I got the ingredients out to make Mom a mac n cheese dish because she was not going to have any of the casserole. Jenn doesn't eat carbs and is on the Keto diet so she wasn't going to partake either. She ended up eating most of the salad I had to go with the casseroles after everything was said and done.
Everyone arrived around 2 and Trish, Amy, Doug and Jenn were a little late...and they brought their dog, Charlie. Ughh, he will have to stay outside. Thank goodness it wasn't raining. We dished up and ate food. Everyone said the food was pretty good for it not being the traditional ham and mashed potatoes. Best part is no one died from eating it! Success!
Trish and Grandma helped do the dishes while Ben and I got the baskets and eggs ready to go hide. I opened both gates and we split up the baskets and the eggs and hid them both in the front and back yard. Some were tricky and some were very obvious. That took us a few minutes and then we gathered up everyone into the front yard, told them the rules and boundaries and set them free to go find Easter baskets and eggs!
We pretty much grabbed them all but checked the yard one more time for overlooked eggs. We found one that we all missed. We went inside and went through all the eggs and baskets.
Trish finished up washing the dishes while some of us went outside to play with the dinosaur RC cars that Erika bought for Ben, Doug and Zach for Christmas. I really thought Dad got one too but he didn't. This was the first time we actually got to use them because it wasn't raining or dark outside. We raced and even came up with a "soccer" type game with a tennis ball and goal. Zach won 2-0.
Everyone got their stuff ready and leftovers (if they wanted some) and headed home for the evening. I knew everyone would be here for at least a few hours. They thanked me for a good time and everyone headed home.
Ben and I spent some time cleaning up and putting away decorations, tables, chairs, vacuuming, putting my work computer back together and wiping down all the counters and tables. Ben took a short nap before his meeting at 8 in Tenino. Meanwhile, I talked to Trish to make sure they got home okay, talked to Mom about how much we owed on our upcoming trip to Peru we didn't get to take last year because of Covid and worked on my blog, read my book and watched Chopped while I had popcorn.
This weekend was sure busy but I was glad we could get together with family and I am actively trying to succeed with keeping the Easter tradition alive even though not everyone is here with us this year.
Happy Easter everyone!
Next Adventure: Victor Falls and a Bike Ride in Orting
No comments:
Post a Comment