Although I haven't checked back over the years, I suspect that this may have been the first Easter that slipped by unannounced on my blog.
This is not because of any deconstruction of my faith, or loss thereof, due to our having failed to attend church regularly over the past several months. With the lifting of restrictions here in New Zealand - finally - we are now able to visit churches in person but finding a church is hard.
No, the reason I failed to post over Easter was simply this:
The Most Charming Grandson#1 (and so far the only one) stayed at Nana and Grandpa's house without his Mummy and Daddy for two whole nights and while absolutely wonderful, as anyone who has parented two-and-a-half-year-olds know (and especially those who have long since passed the childbearing years), it is exhausting.
Sunday afternoon we had all the New Zealand family together. Only missing were Son#5 and DIL#5 and The Most Adorable Granddaughter#8 who didn't make the journey from Texas to join in our first family Easter egg hunt. They were certainly missed (and with the upcoming changes I'm missing them more than ever) but those that gathered had a lovely time.
The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 (now Miss Almost-Eleven) organised me to have the Easter egg hunt. She told me what to buy and I did as I was told (it's wonderful having an organiser in the family!) and Son#3 purchased dairy-free eggs for The Most Charming Grandson#1 so that he wouldn't miss out.
The original plan had been for The Most Adorable Granddaughter#4 to hide the eggs but then she came up with a better idea and Son#4 and DIL#4 ended up hiding the eggs while the girls hid their eyes. And then they were free to seek ...
I've been assured that all the eggs were accounted for at the end of the day, and if the children managed to miss even one I'm sure the family pets would have found them, so it's probably not worth my while to go out and search under bushes or between weeds in case one got missed. Apart from the Easter egg hunt we also managed to pack a lot into the weekend including a farewell morning tea for Son#2 and DIL#2 and The Most Adorable Granddaughters#4 to #7, one church service in person and two online, walks on the beach and around the block, and stewing up more feijoas than I ever want to see again in a lifetime.
Despite warnings to the contrary, we were blessed with fine weather, but the greatest blessing was having so many of my loved ones under the one roof at the one time. As Son#3 pointed out, if all the family come home for Christmas we are going to have to accommodate an extra sixteen persons (and that doesn't include Son#1 and DIL#1 and The Most Adorable Granddaughters#1 to #3). I guess there's no need to be thinking about downsizing any time soon.
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