Celebrating During Quarantine

by Mandy Montgomery

Anniversaries, holidays, and celebrations are never easy…especially when you’re in quarantine. I never thought in a million years that we would be sharing our favorite holiday virtually. But alas, we did.

Through quarantine, our closest family members weren’t able to see each other. We all hunkered down and took shelter in place as instructed. After all, our parents and grandparents both struggle from being in the high-risk group, and we wouldn’t want to get them sick or put them at risk.

But that didn’t stop us from getting creative to see each other as much as we could. After all, nothing can keep us apart after what we have been through. Our kids quickly taught Mamaw and Papaw how to use Facebook video chat (and even add a few filters to make it a little fun) as well as how to use the online virtual meeting platforms out there like Zoom.

Easter was Chris’s favorite holiday. He celebrated every year dressed as the Easter Bunny – and the kids never had a clue it was him. It was the same every year. Chris would show up in the bunny costume to surprise the kids for their yearly egg hunt. After the Easter Bunny left, Uncle Chris would suddenly appear. The kids would giggle and tell Uncle Chris about how he had missed the bunny. And every year, Chris acted just as disappointed that he missed him as the year before. This was our yearly tradition.

2020 proved to be a little different this year. Not only did we not have the opportunity to have the Easter Bunny make an appearance, but we couldn’t even have our annual egg hunt. Easter was always his favorite holiday, so it is always hard not having him there with us in the first place. Then to add the fact that we couldn’t be together to celebrate, it made it even tougher. But…we couldn’t let this pandemic stop us! We pulled together and everyone made their own dinner at home. We sat down together via Zoom and celebrated one of our family’s most cherished holidays together…as a family. We may have been miles apart, but we were together. We laughed, shared jokes, talked about Chris and how much we missed him, and just spent the evening together as a family.

For those families that are struggling with quarantine and the pandemic right now, please know that you are not alone. We are all here for each other. Becoming creative to still be together is a challenge, but we can do it! We can remember and honor our loved ones – even if it is via a virtual phone call.