and *poof* I'm back
Apr. 4th, 2007 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhuSome thoughts: partly to kvell, partly so we'll be able to remmeber this year fondly, partly so that we can refer to this next year to remember what worked out well.
Two wonderful sedarim. I'm bursting with parental pride: Tani did quite well singing through the four questions in Hebrew (with the help of the wonderful haggdah that he had made at school); Alissa got through 1.5 of them herself without any help. They asked good age-appropriate questions. Both nights we finished around 11:30 and the kids made it to the end both nights. The first night we were getting them into pajamas in the living room, shouting at the top of their lungs "...AND FOUR MOTHERS AND THREE FATHERS AND TWO TABLETS AND ONE GOD!"
First night, Tani says: "I have a question and I've heard the answer in the Torah and it doesn't sound like a good answer to me: Why did Pharoah want to kill the Jews? He said it was because there were too many of us and if there was a war he was afraid that we'd join his enemies, but that's a bad reason --- he should have been nice to us!" Good question, kiddo.
The kids each had their own seder plate and matzah covers from school, and I started off being annoyed at the duplication of effort that that would put us through. But in the end, it actually simplified things, because I spent a lot less time handing stuff out during the seder. Karpas time, everyone could reach for the nearest plate, grab a celery piece, dip it in salt water, and we made the bracha together and ate. I actually credit this with saving us about 5-10 minutes in reduced overall logistics time.
Kids were visibly crestfallen that Elijah didn't actually walk in when they opened the door. Only the children are truly capable of emunah sheleimah. Alissa started crying real tears when we told her it was time to close the door: "No! Elijah hasn't come yet! Maybe he's just a little late... we can't close the door yet!"
We used a different brand of shmurah matzah this year -- "Charedim" -- which we found at Supersol on Main St. in Queens. It was really really good. Light, airy, crisp, with just the right amount of charring. (I'm serious, this was yummy.) After several years of disappointing stale chewy shmurah matzah, it was a delight to have matzah that enabled us to eat the afikomen with desire.
Speaking of the afikomen, another logistical note: we let the kids search while we were clearing from the main course and setting for dessert, which worked out really well.
Second night we had our next-door neighbors over, as has become our custom. They are dear friends and wonderful people with exceptional kids and we had a grand time.
The YU Haggadah was ok, but I switched back to Koren on the second night. They messed around too much with the Koren Hebrew pages and I don't use the English pages anyway.
One hour was just barely enough time to clean up. Note for next year: have the X-10 cron job turn the lights off at 1:30, not 12:30, just to be sure.
That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll add more later.
Two wonderful sedarim. I'm bursting with parental pride: Tani did quite well singing through the four questions in Hebrew (with the help of the wonderful haggdah that he had made at school); Alissa got through 1.5 of them herself without any help. They asked good age-appropriate questions. Both nights we finished around 11:30 and the kids made it to the end both nights. The first night we were getting them into pajamas in the living room, shouting at the top of their lungs "...AND FOUR MOTHERS AND THREE FATHERS AND TWO TABLETS AND ONE GOD!"
First night, Tani says: "I have a question and I've heard the answer in the Torah and it doesn't sound like a good answer to me: Why did Pharoah want to kill the Jews? He said it was because there were too many of us and if there was a war he was afraid that we'd join his enemies, but that's a bad reason --- he should have been nice to us!" Good question, kiddo.
The kids each had their own seder plate and matzah covers from school, and I started off being annoyed at the duplication of effort that that would put us through. But in the end, it actually simplified things, because I spent a lot less time handing stuff out during the seder. Karpas time, everyone could reach for the nearest plate, grab a celery piece, dip it in salt water, and we made the bracha together and ate. I actually credit this with saving us about 5-10 minutes in reduced overall logistics time.
Kids were visibly crestfallen that Elijah didn't actually walk in when they opened the door. Only the children are truly capable of emunah sheleimah. Alissa started crying real tears when we told her it was time to close the door: "No! Elijah hasn't come yet! Maybe he's just a little late... we can't close the door yet!"
We used a different brand of shmurah matzah this year -- "Charedim" -- which we found at Supersol on Main St. in Queens. It was really really good. Light, airy, crisp, with just the right amount of charring. (I'm serious, this was yummy.) After several years of disappointing stale chewy shmurah matzah, it was a delight to have matzah that enabled us to eat the afikomen with desire.
Speaking of the afikomen, another logistical note: we let the kids search while we were clearing from the main course and setting for dessert, which worked out really well.
Second night we had our next-door neighbors over, as has become our custom. They are dear friends and wonderful people with exceptional kids and we had a grand time.
The YU Haggadah was ok, but I switched back to Koren on the second night. They messed around too much with the Koren Hebrew pages and I don't use the English pages anyway.
One hour was just barely enough time to clean up. Note for next year: have the X-10 cron job turn the lights off at 1:30, not 12:30, just to be sure.
That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll add more later.