"For I remember it is Easter morn,
And life and love and peace are all new born."
– Alice Freeman Palmer

This will go down as a most unusual Easter celebration, one that found us in our houses deprived of mass and extended family, with so many unknowns. We set the table and made the ham but it was a more subdued holiday than our children are accustomed to having.  Someone had the idea to use the Zoom platform to have a virtual get together. It was both wonderful and bittersweet.  We are grateful to be able to see the babies in their Easter dresses and Will in his little button down shirt showing us his new car, though it is not the same as real life hugs and kisses. 

The adult boys came to the rescue of flagging spirits by staging a most epic egg hunt, even for our family which is known for pretty next level egg hunts.  Late Saturday night, long after we had gone to bed they hatched their plan.  When I woke up Sunday morning and began to make breakfast I wiped my hands on the cloth laid over the stove handle and the first egg dropped.  When I opened the carton I found another plastic egg among the real ones and realized what they had done.  What followed was a long pursuit of eggs hiding bizarre places such as inside of hollowed out oranges in the fruit bowl.  Fortunately someone thought to keep a master list of hiding spots to refer back to. 

 Later in the day, when the babies were down for the night, we tried some virtual games together. 

I have been thinking about Easter readings which mention purging the leaven of malice.  Leaven is what causes dough to swell and puff up and malice, of course, is ill will towards others.  The passage would encourage us to consider how easily and often we can swell up with self-righteous judgement and bear malicious feelings towards others.  We know so little, really, about each other.  So little.  Surely much less than we fancy we do.  It cooks up such a bitter loaf in us.  

Our day ended with snow falling.  It continues to blanket the woods even now. That's ok though.  It is just deepening my feeling of hibernation and helping to hush the world outside. 

When walking the dogs we noticed how brightly the girls' window shines from the side of the house.  It made me think again about the reading today.  I hope that, despite all that is plaguing us, that what is spilling out of us is still beautiful, devoid of malice, and pointing to One Who is perfect. That's my goal anyway, however short I SO often fall of that.