Holy Week 2022 in Quick Takes

1.) Palm Sunday

Ah, Palm Sunday. There's always way too many palms that come home, my dad (who stands in the pew behind us) always says "Wawese Bawabbas!" instead of "Release Barabbas!" during the interactive gospel reading, and someone always gets poked with random plant matter. 

This year's mass stayed true to form. With the new addition of my husband giggling during the bit about King Herod because we'd just listened to that song from Jesus Christ Superstar (...ok, I giggled a little too). 

My family has some reverence issues. Pray for us. 

Anyway, after we got home Chris set off to attend a memorial service for a co-worker who had passed away (a very Lenten thing to do on Passion Sunday)

and I got the scraps of purple cloth out to cover crucifixes and statues.

 Best use of a cheap polyester bedsheet from Goodwill that I can think of, though our stash of religious decor has changed pretty substantially since when I cut out the shrouds and labeled them. There was definitely some spur of the moment reassigning that happened.  

Tonight we're having meatballs left over from our tiny high school's prom for supper. Chris stumbled home at midnight last night (he chaperoned) bearing a huge tray of them, along with an even bigger tray of chicken tenders and two huge plastic platters full of veggies, crackers and cheese-- apparently we're the only people crazy enough to claim leftovers at events like this. Thank God we have a freezer. 

2.) Monday 

Tonight is a penance service at one of the local parishes. I managed to strong arm myself into a confessional a week ago, so Chris is going to go solo tonight so we don't have to wrangle kids in an unfamiliar Church. 

An element of uncertainty has been added to the week. We just found out my teenage brother, who was present when we were at my parents' house yesterday and already had a mild fever, has the flu. So we've all been exposed. 

We're supposed to be hosting Easter for 22 people six days from now. 

I'm dosing everyone with zinc, vitamin C, and probiotics, and we're waiting with baited breath. We should know if we're in the clear by Holy Thursday. 

Little Boy came home from school with a fever and went straight to bed. The signs do not bode well. 

3.) Tuesday 

Early Afternoon: Chris was home from work today (for reasons that are kind of complicated and addressed elsewhere). Taking advantage of the fact that he was home, I took Bitty Baby, got the van inspected (and met a mechanic who claimed to have a master's degree from Eastern Missouri Bible College in Biblical studies, a lifelong military career and to have raised his niece who was now a doctor...no idea if any of this can be verified, but it made for a fun conversation and people in my hometown are eccentric enough for it all to be true), and went and bought groceries for hosting the family on Easter. 

Despite the fact that Little Boy remains feverish and has been sleeping much of the day, I'm remaining optimistic. If nothing else, we'll have a party all by our lonesomes with marshmallow stuffed pastries and a bottle of moscato. 

Suppertime: Dear Pioneer Woman, what on earth possessed you to put THAT MUCH mustard in your Swedish meatball sauce recipe, and then suggest serving it over POLENTA?! And why was I fool enough to go along with it?! And why is there so MUCH of it?!

Little Boy's fever appears to have broken, and the rest remain symptom free. Hope cautiously returns.

Even as we drown in polenta (so much polenta...)

4.) Spy Wednesday 

Morning/Afternoon: Chris took Little Boy to school, and left school (this school) for the last time. Little Boy will finish out the year, and hopefully continue next year, but Chris won't be working for the district anymore. 

Very bittersweet. We've really loved the people here. 

He signed the exit papers, turned in his keys and ID, said goodbye to the kids, and came home. He later told me he managed not to cry-- barely. 

We all ended up going into town in two separate cars to visit his parents for a bit. He then went to an entry meeting for his new school (he got hired on as an assistant principal at a much larger school ) and I took the girls on two unfruitful thrift store runs and then to pick up Little Boy from school. 

School drop off and pick-up will be my responsibility from now on.

 ((Insert resigned sigh here)) 

Suppertime: Chris came home with a new ID, new keys, and as a new employee of a new district. 

Also-- 

Baby zucchini! 

5.) Holy Thursday

Morning: our inaugural school drop off with mom at the helm. We all got up as a family, and Chris left for work. We had a few moments before we had to drive to Little Boy's school, so I took the time to set out our little cardboard Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane by the paper mache tomb I made a couple years ago and talk about why we were getting him out today. 

Made from a cut up hand me down Seton homeschool catechism book and an old cereal box. I'm not the biggest fan of Seton religion books (the wording of some stuff just seems to be...off, somehow), but they do have some nice art in them.  

Lunchtime: I took the girls to storytime and an egg hunt at the library, which was chaotic but fun. 

We then tried to do our normal thing and stop by a local parish that offers adoration afterwards (we stay all of two minutes then get the heck out of dodge before someone starts screaming, dropping toys repeatedly, or tossing down the kneelers with the force of a thousand suns), but the Church was locked up. In retrospect, probably because the side altar where adoration usually happens is set up/being set up as the altar of repose for tonight. 

So we settled for a walk around their Lourdes grotto replica instead. 

Heading home, I saw some constable and border patrol cars on the side of the road. I guess people are starting to ride in on the trains again. 

Evening: Little Boy also attended an egg hunt today, so we set aside a few minutes when we got home and went through loot. Each kid got to eat one piece of candy, everything else went into jars until Easter. 

I put Prince of Egypt on and started supper, which is our tradition for Holy Thursday.

Couple quick notes: 

-the kids don't particularly care for lamb or homemade matzoh, no matter how liturgically appropriate it may be. Wasn't a huge hit, and I ended up getting a thing of sliced deli cheese out and passing it around to at least try and ward off an impending sugar crash from the grape juice we let them drink. 

-homemade wine made with bottled grape juice can get really strong. I'm a little drunk right now. I only had one glass of the stuff, and my inebriation is entirely accidental. 

Ah, the glories of liturgical living. 

By some miracle, we got through bedtime. 

6.) Good Friday

The day there would be yardwork. 

Chris rolled out of bed, got clothes on, and immediately started mowing the lawn this morning. Sounds strange, but he fasts by doing strenuous work. He's found that when he's outside working on stuff he doesn't get hungry until he stops working and rests for awhile. 

So the lawn got mowed, several piles of junk got cleared up and moved, things got weed whacked, and we now have a very nice area set up for our Easter get-together. 

I did an air dry clay art project with the girls while we listened to a Stations of the Cross recording. Little Boy opted to work outside with his daddy, and made his project later. 

Because we were off routine we skipped the kids' snack time, and of course Chris and I were fasting. Everyone was HUNGRY by the time supper finally rolled around-- I think that's possibly the first time there's been no leftovers whatsoever. 

Earlier in the day, we put Jesus on the cross. 

Tonight after reading from a children's Bible about the passion, we put him inside the tomb and put a guard at the door. 

7.) Holy Saturday 

 

The baking has begun. 

Every year I make a bread ring studded with hard boiled eggs and I make ressurection rolls with the kids. 

I also have to paint a paschal candle, make a mountain of party food, finish Tima's dress, stuff Easter eggs, tidy the house, and get assorted things done for tomorrow's party. 

I think it's traditional that this be a day of contemplation in some way, shape, form, or fashion, but I have NO idea how to go about doing that. None. I pretty much always spend Holy Saturday running around like a chicken with its head cut off. 

Tonight we'll do our "vigil"- light a fire outside, light our candle, renew our baptismal vows and then watch a movie and eat. 

It'll be nice to sit down for a little while.