Passover 2018 notes
Backdated because it will make me crazy not to have these notes in another year, or two, or 10.
First seder, Friday night, March 30: my friend MH the now-ex-shul-president invited us to their seder of about 16 people (10 or so family, and at least 6 guests including us, almost all of whom I know from shul). It was noisy and chaotic (really too much for Etrace's taste) but also warm and friendly and relaxed; they love Aria so they were cool with her bouncing around and wanting to play with everything in the house. MH went out of her way to get Aria a Baby Elsa doll as an "afikomen prize" and the ensuing squeals of toddler joy were a treat to witness. The seder part wasn't terribly in-depth, but no worse than what I've been able to manage at ours (they actually had the same Family Haggadah series that I picked out for us, although I got the "older children" version). The food was awesome, the company was good, and basically if I had every seder like that for the rest of my life... dayenu.
Second seder, Saturday night, March 31: our house. I was actually reading Torah in the morning, so I came home and cooked after that: lamb roast, potato kugel, and roasted vegetables (plus matzah ball soup, almond torte, and all the usual accompaniments). We had my dad; Etrace's bandmate J (the guitarist) and his brother M (drums); and bandmate T (keyboards) and his girlfriend S. S is actually Jewish (!!) and lives in Valpo, where I grew up (she went to my high school, but at least 10 years before me). I had met her briefly last fall at the one gig of theirs I managed to get to, in October. When we invited them to come, she emailed me all excited: "What can I bring? I usually host! Should I make charoset?" so she did bring that as well as a lovely fruit plate. It made a nice change having another Jewish friend at my own seder. But I have to say that the non-Jewish friends and family we bring together have always been -- and were again this year -- super engaged and interested in the whole experience and appreciative of the effort I put into it. So it's really more fulfilling for me than I could have hoped. :-)
Oh, I almost forgot -- the other thing S brought (and left for me as a gift) was a copy of The (unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah, which I hadn't even heard of and suggests that she's a kindred spirit. :-) I still haven't actually read through it but it looks clever.
Aria, at this stage, is usually content to sit through dinner for at least an hour once belted into her chair. Unfortunately, at the seder, that hour runs out before we even get to the actual meal. But she was as well-behaved as could be expected, and even started to chime in on the Four Questions a little bit. Next year we'll work on them in advance and I think she'll be ready!
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.
First seder, Friday night, March 30: my friend MH the now-ex-shul-president invited us to their seder of about 16 people (10 or so family, and at least 6 guests including us, almost all of whom I know from shul). It was noisy and chaotic (really too much for Etrace's taste) but also warm and friendly and relaxed; they love Aria so they were cool with her bouncing around and wanting to play with everything in the house. MH went out of her way to get Aria a Baby Elsa doll as an "afikomen prize" and the ensuing squeals of toddler joy were a treat to witness. The seder part wasn't terribly in-depth, but no worse than what I've been able to manage at ours (they actually had the same Family Haggadah series that I picked out for us, although I got the "older children" version). The food was awesome, the company was good, and basically if I had every seder like that for the rest of my life... dayenu.
Second seder, Saturday night, March 31: our house. I was actually reading Torah in the morning, so I came home and cooked after that: lamb roast, potato kugel, and roasted vegetables (plus matzah ball soup, almond torte, and all the usual accompaniments). We had my dad; Etrace's bandmate J (the guitarist) and his brother M (drums); and bandmate T (keyboards) and his girlfriend S. S is actually Jewish (!!) and lives in Valpo, where I grew up (she went to my high school, but at least 10 years before me). I had met her briefly last fall at the one gig of theirs I managed to get to, in October. When we invited them to come, she emailed me all excited: "What can I bring? I usually host! Should I make charoset?" so she did bring that as well as a lovely fruit plate. It made a nice change having another Jewish friend at my own seder. But I have to say that the non-Jewish friends and family we bring together have always been -- and were again this year -- super engaged and interested in the whole experience and appreciative of the effort I put into it. So it's really more fulfilling for me than I could have hoped. :-)
Oh, I almost forgot -- the other thing S brought (and left for me as a gift) was a copy of The (unofficial) Hogwarts Haggadah, which I hadn't even heard of and suggests that she's a kindred spirit. :-) I still haven't actually read through it but it looks clever.
Aria, at this stage, is usually content to sit through dinner for at least an hour once belted into her chair. Unfortunately, at the seder, that hour runs out before we even get to the actual meal. But she was as well-behaved as could be expected, and even started to chime in on the Four Questions a little bit. Next year we'll work on them in advance and I think she'll be ready!
N.B.: Cross-posted from Dreamwidth; click to view or comment on original post.