Corona pesach | Imamother

amother

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 4:04 pm

Anyone else miss the coziness and simplicity of pesach during covid.
Ofcourse I'm not talking Abt the horrible pandemic part.

hodeez

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:00 pm

Honestly yes. I'm happy to have guests but also appreciate the intimacy of a meal with just my husband and kids

icedcoffee

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:02 pm

I understand this was coming from a very privileged place where we had no pandemic-related financial or health concerns, but we had the best Pesach that year just the two of us. I wouldn't want to do it every year for the rest of my life but it was a really special memory.

amother

Pistachio

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:09 pm

No I don’t miss it. But maybe because I had a newborn and had never made pesach before. It was incredibly difficult I don’t have good memories.

amother

Bellflower

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:10 pm

I made seder for myself and by myself. Sitting down to read the hagaddah to an empty room is not fun. Kol dichfin was a mockery. Still trying to get over it. I never want to do that again.

DVOM

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:13 pm

Yes! We loved being home alone. We sat around the table shmoozing with the kids,took lots of long walks, built Legos for hours...it was a very special time for us.

amother

Wandflower

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:15 pm

Omg no!! It was awful. No extended family. We had to stay home in our tiny apartment (rather we usually go Away) we were recovering from covid. No shul. No school projects. Everything was hard. Getting to the store with lines was awful and there was reduced hours and no delivery. Could hardly get produce. Couldn’t tovel anything. Nowhere to go and nothing to do on Chol hamoed. It was awful awful awful. Hope never having to return to any of that. Even thinking about it now gives me shivers

Not to mention my heart was breaking for all
Those that I knew were alone. Alone. I have a lot of single friends and I thought it was a cruel cruel twist of fate that they were all alone. Just awful.

mha3484

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:20 pm

Honestly, pesach is always our immediate family. No extended family to go to so that was not any different. I felt really bad for those making yomtov for the first time. I got eased into it being BT and having no other choice. Making your first pesach with a bunch of kids and little notice is very overwhelming.

The lack of shul/the park/socializing with friends and neighbors was very hard. I struggle with hosting but I fill the afternoons at the park where my kids can find friends and so can I. When we were either taking socially distanced walks or home it was lonely.

amother

Wandflower

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:32 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Also all the help with the boxes from school made a huge difference.

Not all communities had that. Mine didn’t

cuties' mom

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:38 pm

We stay home and don't have company every year, so covid didn't affect that, but I'm so happy school is open. It was a nightmare cleaning for pesach with everyone home 24/7, and I never want to be in that situation again.

amother

Hosta

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:42 pm

Honestly covid pesach was hard for us because my parents couldn’t come. They had come to us for a few years in a row previously. Also, my son had his bar mitzvah that pesach.
My pesach preps now are no more or less simple than they were then. I never go crazy with pesach cleaning, cooking, etc. For me the only difference is the lack of guests. So I make two pans of chicken instead of one. I make a bigger soup and roast. I don’t go crazy with patchke-y food. I have basically the same menu now that I had two years ago. I just traded some vegetables for other vegetables.

amother

Ecru

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 5:52 pm

Pesach 2020 was extremely difficult for me. I got up from sitting shiva for my sibling and then I had to immediately make Pesach for the first time ever starting from scratch. B"H DH was very helpful, but it was still very stressful and I would have preferred spending time with my family of origin so we could just spend time together and process. Since it was just us and I didn't want to put a damper on yom tov for my kids, I had to leave the Seder a few times to cry in the bathroom whenever something reminded me of my sibling. It ended up being a nice Pesach and I think the kids enjoyed but they were much happier last year to spend time with extended family.

amother

Sage

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 6:37 pm

We are shluchim and most of our kids are away in yeshiva/school. So March-may 2020 was an amazing time for us. All our kids were home. We didn't host any guests. But we were still very busy erev yom tov doing matza deliveries and making sure people got what they needed for pesach. Pesach is still a lot of work. My cleaning lady had left so that was really hard doing all the little routine things she usually does like vacuuming or cleaning the toilets.

It was very nice, if very weird, having seder with just our immediate family. But I am happy we are back running a big seder this year for our community even if my feet are falling off and I am exhausted.

happytobemom

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 6:49 pm

Yes. Best Pesach ever.
I would do the whole lockdown all over again if it was offered!

(No, not minimizing the pain and suffering and tragic loss at that time. My family experienced loss to Covid as well. But everything else, yes!)

amother

Viola

Wed, Apr 13 2022, 9:33 pm

Yes! It was my first time making Pesach and there was lots of leeway with chumros. We were in the country so the kids played outside with friends and I had a big kitchen to cook in. There was no running around to stores in packed streets, everything was ordered and brought to our door. We had ample storage space in the basement which was cold so we were able to store perishables there. There were no chol hamoed trips, just relaxing with friends. The kids didn’t demand any activities. They were happy just having each other.
Then again, dh had major anxiety so it wasn’t so fun for him.