In line with the “what will you do about Thanksgiving/Christmas/Hanukkah” thread that was active back in the fall…
We’re closing in on the spring holidays - our 2nd since Covid came to town. What will your holiday celebration (if you celebrate) look like this year?
Sadly I think our spring holidays will look a lot like last years Zoom holiday (which I personally found pretty depressing) - or could be skipped entirely as our immediate family won’t all be vaccinated. I’m working to keep positive and holding onto the idea that in two or three months we can hopefully all be together (fairly) safety.
Our D will be driving home for the weekend. She is living alone, away on co-op, and works for a company with strict Covid procedures. She will drive straight through without a stop.
The rest will be the same as last year - zoom church, zoom meal with family.
I’m not even feeling disappointed. Just kind of expected at this point.
Our D20 will be coming home for a long weekend and we’ll have my parents over for a seder. They (parents) and my H have been vaccinated. D20 will test and isolate (to the best of her ability - she lives with 4 other girls in an off-campus apartment) several days before traveling home.
It will still be a far cry from our normal celebration (two seders, each with an extended group of family and friend), but certainly an improvement from last year.
Another Zoom, alas. But this year I’m going full nontraditional for Night 1, with retro video clips from Rugrats Passover, Prince of Egypt etc instead of reading through the haggadah. It’s just immediate family so we have lots of leeway.
Night 2 we’re guests at someone else’s zoom seder, so will have to rein in my nonconformist tendencies. It’s tough not being with my kids for well over a year (no airplanes for any of us) and not getting together with the extended family.
Definitely will be less stress. Thanksgiving meant that if someone got sick there was a whole long winter and likely surge ahead. Easter means it’s Spring. Many have gotten the vaccine and we are going to celebrate. It won’t be a huge crowd but it will be good to see family we haven’t seen in months/up to a year.
Getting my son from school. I will be going a few days earlier to see my sisters and mother. Picking him up driving 5 hours straight. He goes back like 5 days later… Last year we did Zoom and some minor readings for Passover… Glad he will be with us live this year
H and I will spend Easter by ourselves again this year. I may be recuperating from surgery then, but won’t know for a while if it will be necessary.
Vaccinations are still months off for us, as there’s no consideration given to having multiple comorbidities in our area and even those old enough to qualify now cannot get appointments much of the time. Maybe by Labor Day it will be safe enough for our family to gather.
I think the vunerable ones will mostly have their vaccinations 100% effective by then, so I am hoping for a normalish holiday, except with masks. I’m sure the crowd will be light, but hopefully some normal activities, and seeing some people I haven’t seen in over a year.
I have no idea - my younger son is supposed to be moving to Japan Easter weekend. Older son I will send some Easter stuff. We have a regular family Zoom every Sunday afternoon so we’ll probably talk then with whoever is available- maybe play a game.
Biggest challenge here is what to cook for two…or maybe four. I’ll probably make brisket.
Easter goodies will be mailed to the kid who lives far away.
Easter is usually the holiday we host. While H and I and two of three kids will be fully vaccinated, along with my mom, my brother’s family who we normally celebrate - well, I don’t think any of them will be vaccinated. Nor will one of my D’s. Plus D1 will have just returned back to her grad school location and starting a new clinical rotation the day after Easter so don’t think she would drive back for it.
My brother’s family would probably say, “well if you guys are vaccinated we are fine with still getting together even though we are not”. But I’m not comfortable with that. I do dread this conversation again…
I MIGHT consider having a meal outside if the weather warranted it - even if not at our house but in the town where mom and brother’s family are…but early April in Ohio/Michigan could mean ANYTHING in terms of weather!
I’m sad to not have it - our Easter is FULL of family games and traditions. Maybe I’ll suggest we do a May 1 edition - better weather!
I was about to respond “same as last year” but then realized last year our 20 y/o son was here because campus was closed, and he was finishing the semester remotely. This year his campus is open but spring break was canceled and they have no days off around Easter either. So ours was smaller than normal last year, but will be even smaller this year! No extended family, and our older two kids are away at school. So it will be just dh, me and our two younger kids. In fact, my 16 y/o was asked if she could work on Easter - she will get time and a half. Since we aren’t doing anything special, we told her it was fine if she wanted to work. We will eat dinner when she gets home.
My sister in FL is hosting. She has a terrific screened in porch where we’ll all eat. And the guest bathroom is accessible from the outside, and it has lovely big windows with cross ventilation. Finally, she has a camper in her driveway, and my H and I will stay there and won’t go into her house at all except for the screened in porch and that bathroom. My parents are joining us and luckily they will be fully vaccinated.
All I can say is what a difference from Christmas, when it was just my H and D. I made my D sleep in a different house and only allowed her into the garage with the big door and the windows wide open, even though it was only 30 degrees. Pictures of us huddled under our blankets with our face masks on opening presents are classics already.
They just announced at church that we will be having our Easter breakfast before church this year, it was cancelled last year of course. I’m not sure if there will be any changes from previous years. We had our church Christmas party in December but food was catered and served rather than potluck buffet, tables were also by family groups.
I don’t know if my Mother is having lunch after church this year, she hasn’t said yet. We have gotten together periodically but she just doesn’t fix Sunday dinner as much as she used to because she is getting older and just doesn’t feel like it sometimes.
My husband is having his second covid shot on April 1 the day before Good Friday. Maybe I won’t need to cook at all!
Although a lot of us will be vaccinated at the time, I highly doubt my SIL will host Easter this year (last year she cancelled of course). That will probably leave me cooking for my youngest DD and her fiancee, as well as for my DS16, husband, and probably my brother in law. Thinking maybe ribs on the smoker, scalloped potatoes, and various desserts. DD doesn’t do any dairy so that is always a bit of a challenge for various reasons.