Growing up in an agnostic family, most of our holiday celebrations were more cultural than religious. The year starts with New Year’s and all the college football and chicken wings and beandip we could eat. Then the Super Bowl with a similar menu, but maybe we’d add a homemade cheese ball.

For Easter, we would usually hunt eggs and candy nests with our Easter baskets and expect to eat lots of deviled eggs and egg salad for the next few days. Dinner was always roasted ham and hot German potato salad with a sweet and sour onion dressing that I have never quite been able to replicate in adulthood.

This year, we won’t be gathering with family. I expect my sister will send pics of the kids hunting eggs and shoving a fair bit of chocolate in their mouths before breakfast. We won’t be having Sunday dinner with my folks. We won’t even be having ham or potatoes, except maybe in hash for breakfast. No eggs have been hard boiled or dyed. No special candy is in the house, though there is plenty of candy.

Holidays mean different things to different people but under this pandemic damper, nearly everyone’s plans for a “normal” holiday have been upended. That is something we all share this year.

Whatever your holiday traditions, may you find peace in the adjustments you and your family are having to make right now. Stay safe and enjoy what blessings you do have. Happy Easter!