#Microblog Mondays: Easter Fun Without Kids

Three Easters ago I got real sad that what seemed like everyone in the world was running around coloring eggs and doing Egg Hunts and Easter Baskets and all that with their kids and we were sad saps just the two of us, having a nice breakfast...when I thought, WHY SHOULDN'T WE HAVE THE FUN, TOO? So, I bought a few prizes for Bryce (some favorite candy, a book about math and love, a Moleskine mini graph paper notebook...) and I wrapped them in flowered napkins and hid them all around the house and then told him to go find them all and I took pictures and a new tradition was born.

Back when the dining room was red. Clearly all this was a big surprise given the feelings leaking from his face. It was the best. 

Now we do "baskets" every year -- a paper bag decorated simply with markers or stickers, and little gifts wrapped in napkins, and it is so much childlike fun to scour the house looking for each others' prizes (even though I am disturbed that Easter is sort of like Christmas Light now with baskets seeming to be full of toys and gifts and not just little tchotchkes and candy like I remember, but we're adults so if I want to give Bryce Season One of Breaking Bad in his basket, so be it).

This year it was particularly important to have some fun and bring some lightness to what has been a truly sucktastic couple of months. We don't really celebrate Easter religiously, as we are not religious, but it is nice to celebrate rebirth and Spring finally coming and a little happiness for ourselves, just as we are.

I found CABBAGE napkins this year! This is Bryce's stash. 

Before the crazy hunts, we did do traditional Easter baskets and Bryce found this Easter Knight (I'm sure that's not his real name) and put it in my basket. He comes out every year to oversee the festivities.

Found one! 

There weren't any over here, but I love this shot. This is the room that when I saw it I knew a man who had a library like this was a man I needed to spend my life with. 

He found the "basket!" 

Love the pure, unadulterated joy in this picture. 

Searching, searching...he hid them so well!

Except the patio cushions, which hid in plain sight and I didn't see until I was two feet away. 

Bunny vase!

Best. Tea towel. Ever.

Coincidentally, I gave him a tea towel, too. Great minds.

At the end, Bryce made a cabbage out of the cabbage napkins.

Some beautiful person (Charlotte, I'm looking at you) sent me this magnet, which was delivered ON EASTER. That dirt is from gardening, not my new career as a street urchin from Oliver!. Also, tears. 

While gardening I ran into the Easter Snake. Just kidding, he's just a snake that lives under our front stone steps. I love him and am glad he survived the winter. He can be startling, but I love that snakes live in my garden.

Still clearing out the detritus of winter, but I loved these bright purple hyacinths with white bleeding hearts that are already starting to bloom. Go Spring.

And we ended the day with the Easter Duck. (and sauteed red chard and smashed spicy parmesan potatoes). Bryce is responsible for Mr. Duck, I am responsible for sides. That duck was GOOOD. I felt a little guilty eating something frequently featured on Easter cards for dinner, but most people eat lamb and that is sort of messed up on multiple levels, literal and metaphorical given the holiday. Somehow I can stomach a duck better than a little lamby.

It was a glorious holiday for the most part. It was a beautiful day. We made the most of what we have, found some joy right now in this moment, and that was a beautiful thing. 

Want to read more #Microblog Mondays? Go here and enjoy!