the sweetest easter weekend
This Easter weekend was, honestly, the sweetest I’ve had in a long time. Not because of the perfect weather or the pinterest-worthy vibes. But because it was completely free of the stresses of hosting and trying to make everyone happy.
This season is notoriously hectic as a mom of four. If you were thinking I’d say the holiday season is the most hectic, the joke’s on you…the holiday season is like a vacation compared to the March, April, May season in our household. And this year is even more hectic than ever before thanks to graduation. We currently have one child in a flag football rec league with two practices a week and Saturday games. We have one on the high school flag football team with two games a week (often on the same nights as the other has practice). We have one on the middle school track team who has two matches a week and practices four nights a week.
April brings with it National Junior Honor Society Induction Ceremonies, Senior Prom (did I mention our daughter is also on Prom Court?), one child who has been referred to an allergist far away from home, flag football Senior Night, Senior Cheer Banquet, Senior Flag Football Banquet. May brings our daughter’s college graduation and her high school graduation, two of our niece’s high school graduations at two different schools, senior awards night, baccalaureate, middle school awards night, high school awards night, Mother’s Day, my 21st wedding anniversary, Addy’s graduation party, all of her sweet friend’s graduation parties, vacation, Memorial Day, and the end of the school year.
And that’s just the extra stuff that we have to do between living our lives, seeing the orthodontist, the pediatrician, and field trips and everything in between. It’s exhausting, and we are only just beginning.
Normally, the Easter holiday brings with it the pressure to host, to entertain, to make memories that everyone else will Instagram share. It’s the constant barrage of phone calls from our families, “What are we doing for Easter?” and the expectation that we will find the time to host, plan, shop for, cook for, clean for, and execute an entire celebration for our families to simply show up and enjoy despite being the busiest of everyone. In the middle of that, it’s easy to lose sight of what the day is really about.
What we did differently
This year, we decided not to do anything. Since the beginning of March, we’ve had one free day a week – Sunday. And when I say ‘free day,’ I mean one day without practices, games, school, pre-determined events that require our presence…but it’s certainly not ‘free’. We have to grocery shop, catch up on everything we missed during the week, run errands, and try to have a homecooked meal for once.
We are, simply put, exhausted.
And no one seems to understand that. There’s a large misconception that our lives are much simpler because our kids are older when, in fact, the exact opposite is true. The kind of exhausted we felt when they were littler was the kind of exhaustion we brought upon ourselves making plans, hosting events, and doing things we wanted to do. These days? These days there is rarely anything on the calendar we want to do and a million things we are required to do to be present for our kids. Don’t get me wrong…we love watching them do what they love. But it’s their choice and their plans. Not ours.
This year, we decided a slow, quiet Easter was our plan. No preparation. No hosting. No juggling a million different things. Nothing. Just us, our kids, and the Easter bunny on a slow Sunday morning. There was no schedule. No to-do list.
In fact, we ended up having our best friends and their kids come over and we made brunch in our pajamas (and by we, I mean all of us. They cooked, we cooked, and we just hung out and laughed for two hours while we cooked and ate and the kids swam). It was no pressure, no stress, and impromptu.
We were invited to a lovely easter gathering the evening before Easter, and we had a wonderful time. The kids played with their friends, we spent time with the adults, and everyone enjoyed the low-pressure aspect of all of it. Our friends invited us over the Friday before Easter so the kids could color eggs and we cooked dinner, played shuffle board, the kids played in the pool and hot tub, and we just relaxed. It was lovely.
It’s a beautiful reminder
I was reminded at the end of this lovely Easter weekend just how important it is to give ourselves permission to slow down, especially in a season that’s naturally busy. Life is not a race. Every holiday need not be our responsibility for anyone other than our own little family. This Easter, our joy was monumental, and it wasn’t found in executing a perfect holiday place setting or planning an elegant meal. It was found in the freedom of just being together, enjoying our home, putting together a puzzle, napping, and spending time together.
I didn’t have to make anything perfect.
It just was.
Tiffany Raiford 