After weeks in quarantine due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, kids across North America woke to a little bit of normalcy.
That’s thanks to the Easter Bunny, who hopped by homes from coast to coast, spreading some holiday joy while leaving chocolates and toys.
“I thought the Easter Bunny wasn’t going to come because of the virus, but when I saw the eggs, I got happy,” said Avery DiMarco, a youngster from Bath, Ont. “Even though we’re isolating, we still got to have an Easter.”
“It was cool, we still got eggs,” added little brother Talon.
The holiday sparked joy for families coming to grips with their new reality, social isolation and a pandemic that has many worried about their health, and future.
“Easter for me was eye-opening,” added mother Cassandra DiMarco.
“We made the most of it, and despite missing spending time with our extended family, it made me realize how fast-paced our life is and not to take anything for granted anymore, especially weekends filled with scheduled events.”
It’s a feeling many mothers and fathers can relate to, especially with youngsters at home who have so many questions while the grown-ups have few answers.
“This has been the first Easter we’ve spent without friends and/or our extended families, and while it had its moments, we made the most of our time together and did enjoy lots of snuggles in our jammies,” explained Lisa Fanson, a mother of two in Edmonton, Alta.
“My son Brody has a hard time understanding holidays or events during this pandemic, where normally our house is filled with people and chaos, but in saying that (he) is enjoying lots of ‘just us‘ time.”
Arguably, most families had to deal with many broken traditions this year.
That includes Teresa Sforza and her immediate family.
She’s been attending Easter Mass at St. Michael’s Cathedral since she came immigrated to Canada in 1961
This was the first year she participated in mass through video-link thanks to her grandson Christian.
“As soon as I was a young girl, my parents, we have to go to church every Sunday. If we didn’t go, … no lunch for you,” said Sforza, who was being interviewed via Zoom — another first.
The family was looking forward to Christian’s performance over the four-day mass celebration, he’s been s student at St. Michael’s Choir School for the past ten-years.
“Unfortunately, I couldn’t sing at all four masses but I attended them virtually but there’s a lot of repertoire that is very fun. It’s a very dramatic experience as well. It’s theatrical, we get brass on Easter Sunday, so to miss those elements is somewhat upsetting,” said Christian, a grade 12-student.
Experiencing an Easter in lockdown is something these families won’t soon forget.
“Community and technology has been our saviour. And a lot of Lego. We’ve been doing a lot of Lego building,” added mother Angela Sforza.
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