Labor Day Love

This past Labor Day, before we drove home from Nana Camp, we made a detour and drove to my best friend's house in New York suburbs.  She has three awesome kids (that happen to also have red hair).  My kids love her kids (even though none of them are remotely the same age).  We spent Passover this past year with them and had a blast.  Then this past Memorial Day we hung with her brood at the Jersey Shore.  I needed a little best friend time after my "not so august August" - so we went for it.

The drive there was fine - a little less than 2 hours.  We got there before she made it back from the Jersey Shore. Oh yeah, did I mention she cut her vacay a day short just so she could meet me at her house.  This is what is called true friendship.  I keep thinking of the Girl Scout song about friends... "Make New Friends But Keep the Old,  One is Silver and the Other Gold..."  I think there is more to it than that - but this friend - she is pure Gold... the irreplaceable kind.

We spent the whole day together just hanging out.  We went to the playground (where we both got parking tickets?!?!).  We played in the backyard.  We ordered in Chinese food for dinner.  The kids played Wii dance games (my kids have never played Wii but they LOVED this dance off game!!!).  We just all hung around.  No pretensions, no judgements, no expectations - just pure acceptance - that is golden. 

I met my buddy a long time ago, on a plane going to Israel.  We've been through a lot these past 22 years.  Most of the time we have been there for each other - at least I hope so.  I know sometimes I have not, but I have tried to make up for it.  We been through deaths, births, weddings, sickness, health, happiness and tears.  And now our kids are playing with each other (and laughing and dancing).  She is a friend that I know that I am lucky to have.  I am honored to be part of her life and hope that she knows how much my family just adores her family.  That village I am always talking about - she is in it - BIG TIME!

THANK YOU RED HEADED BUDDIES!   

We love you and miss you.

Trying to Torah...

The eighth night/day of Sukkot is Simchat Torah (this past Monday night).  This holiday celebrates the finishing of the reading of the Torah (the Five Books of the Bible - or Old Testament to some...).  Basically, Jews read portions of the Torah every week.  Doesn't matter if you are in London, Washington DC, Hong Kong or Jerusalem, everyone pretty much reads the same "part" of the Torah (Bible) each week.  Then when you get to Simchat Torah, you're done and it is time to literally start again, by going back to the first few words of Genesis, you know, the ones everyone seems know... "In the beginning..."

So of course, there is a holiday to commemorate all this.  Usually synagogues unroll the entire Torah scroll and have it on display.  People drink a lot!!! As in vodka shots and saying L'chaims (to life) all night long.  Often synagogues close off the street and they bring the Torahs outside and everyone dances the night away outside with the Torah, with flags, with candy, and with the vodka shots.  It is really fun.

When I was young and hip and lived in New York City, we would go out on Simchat Torah and dance and drink the night away.  We would look for our nice Jewish husbands to be... all in the name of celebrating a Jewish holiday!  I have some awesome memories of those days.  We often arrived home exhausted, feet sore, a little drunk and without aforementioned Jewish husbands - but we always had a blast!

Last year, I took Jonah to the Sixth & I synagogue downtown and left Vera home with a sitter (she was too little and I was solo...) and we met some friends who also had a little guy the same age as Jonah.  Jonah and has buddy had a blast even if they were up way past their bed time and it was cold out.  They drank grape juice, danced in the streets and played with a stuffed Torah - it was fun.

The year before last year, we were in Chicagoland and we had made some pretty awesome friends who lived in Skokie.  They invited us to their Sukkah during Sukkot and then to celebrate with them on Simchat Torah.  They had a little guy like Jonah as well.  Jonah and I went with them to shul hop all over Skokie on Simchat Torah night - this was religious Skokie - an it was fantastic.  Jonah loved it and he was little!  Tons of religious dancing and drinking and singing and fun - and yes it was super cold that night.

This year I looked around and I wasn't feeling it.  No one I knew with small kids was going anywhere to celebrate, dance or do anything Torah-esque...  The weather was super crappy - cold and rainy... I was still getting over the super sinus infection from hell... It just wasn't going to happen.

I pulled out my kaleidoscope and as I was doing so, Jonah serendipitously asked if we could do some"special art" - so that was it... we'd do special art for Simchat Torah.

Much like most of our art, we kind of make it up...  I went to the basement to cobble up some stuff. Inspiration comes from - wait for it - paper towel rolls...

Let's make our own Torahs and have our own Torah dance party.  Well, we tried.

We taped paper (I had some paper rolls for easels) to the paper towel rolls. We sort of rolled them and then Vera actually did the project and colored her Torah scroll and decorated it with stickers.  Jonah was in a mood.  He was way more into running around with the paper and unrolling it, cutting paper, drawing on everything but the paper and eventually destroying Vera's Torah.  So in the end, we didn't actually have any finished product Torahs.  Vera took and nap and well, Jonah sort of calmed down.

Then I tried again - Jonah wanted snack so we made up a Torah snack... well I did it and Jonah just sort of mushed his up... it's the process, not the outcome... (pretzel sticks, cheddar cheese and olives)

Later in the afternoon,we tried to dance with the stuffed Torah and do a Torah march with flags...  Ummm, not so much.  There was about 30 seconds of dancing.  Then came the throwing of the stuffed Torah... and then the ripping of the flags... that was the end of that...

It wasn't a rocking Simchat Torah.  But it was.  We tried.  Jonah and Vera totally know what a Torah is and the good thing about Simchat Torah, it comes again every year!

The best part of the whole Simchat Torah experience this year - it was another reminder that things come and things go, things start and things end, sometimes things are awesome, sometimes things are OK, sometimes things are not so much... but we keep getting the chance each year to do things differently and sometimes that is better - or sometimes it is just different and sometimes we fail - but as long as we get the chance to do it again, we've never really failed right?

We can always start again, write our story again, even begin with three little words, "In the beginning..."

Because the real truth is, every time we think, do, try, fail, succeed, love and live another second - it is always the beginning of something we haven't already thought, did, tried, failed, succeeded, loved or lived... that is the gift of Simchat Torah for me this year.

Jonah's

Mine...

Super Heros in the Sukkah!

Although, traditionally you are supposed to host dinners in the sukkah, we are trying to host playdates, breakfasts, lunches, snacks, and sometimes dinners (whatever we can)... most of the week was a sukkah wash out because of the rain - but we did manage to have some fun!

This past Monday Jewish preschool was closed for Sukkot - my kaleidoscope was wiggling in my back pocket - call up Batman's mom (he goes to another local Jewish preschool) and invite them over for some Super Hero craziness in our sukkah (or as Jonah was overheard saying that morning - this is Spiderman's Sukkah!!!!).  That's what we did.  It was pretty super hero fantastic!

There was lots of running, pushing, wrestling... and projects!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.  But we did have fun!

(1) Painting our Etrogs! - we painted foam eggs shapes with yellow paint - voila etrogs!

(2) Snack Sukkahs - graham crackers, chocolate icing, peanut butter, pretzel rods, fruit roll ups, and fruit gummys!  Way too much sugar but oh so fun!

(3) Squeezing some lemonade! (because you know lemons look like etrogs and they are both citrons -and I have wanted to make lemonade all summer... I planned it as "a recovering from getting your tonsils out" activity - but then realized lemonade was not on the approved bland food?!?!) - Yep, we did it - the good old fashioned way!  Lots of lemons!  Lots of squeezing! water and a pinch of sugar - delish! 

We love Batman and his crew.  His sister is big into purple, accessories and Dora (sort of Vera's perfect soul mate) and their mom, well she is part of that village I keep talking about (and also the Not-So-SAHM) - that's code for pretty good stuff!

It was a great morning - Jonah & Vera and their buddies had a blast.  We made a mess!  The kids blew shofars, shook the lulav and etrog and were playing inside, outside and around the sukkah!  It was gorgeous out!

Like I said, a good time! Many of the pictures below are courtesy of Not-So-SAHM... like I said my camera is crapola...

Another update.  Sunday night is Shemini Atzeret and Monday night is Simchat Torah - yep some more Jewish Holidays no one ever talks about.  What that means is we won't be seeing you all till Wednesday and then we are done with the Jewish Holidays until Chanukah!

In other news I am still receoving from that cold/flu thing.  Turns out, it's a super severe sinus infection and I am on three weeks of antibiotics and steroids... whoop whoop for me.  As the buddah says, with the diagnosis, you do the cure... or something like that.

We are planning a VERY RESTFUL SHABBOT weekend over here!  We need it. Yes the Village is helping.

Shabbot Shalom everyone! 

 

Sunday Night Sukkot in the "Real" Shake Shack!

The big thing about Sukkot, you are supposed to host or be hosted in the sukkah each night for 7 nights.  Sunday night was the official first night.  I took out my kaleidoscope and looked around and came up with a little plan.

We have some amazing friends that have been very good to us recently (part of the that village) and they were days away from having their first baby.  They also just put up their first sukkah.  Jonah and Vera love these friends.  They also were the ones who gave me the tip on where to buy the sukkah kit.  Here was my kaleidoscopey plan:

Invite me, Jonah and Vera over for a drive by Sukkah visit.  Bring milk shakes.  Shake the lulav and etrog in the sukkah.  Leave them with milk shakes, french fries and smiles.  Hugs and kisses all around for new sukkahs, new babies and great friends!

So that is what we did.  Of course the minute we got in the car, the first rain drops fell.  We went through the my favorite Burger King drive thru on Conn Ave (if it only knew it was helping us celebrate sukkot) and drove on over to Takoma Park.

We made it there before the big rain.  Jonah and Vera got to shake, shake, shake it up in the sukkah and then we went inside for the consuming of the shakes. 

We are so excited for them and their new bouncing baby girl.  We can not wait to share years of sukkots to come with them. MAZAL TOV!

To learn all about the "shaking" of the lulav and the etrog - see HERE.

Vera loved all of their plastic fruit decorations!

get that baby bump in the sukkah! 



Jonah and Vera shaking the lulav and etrog with our bestest buddy!  Shake shake shake, shake your lulav... shake shake shake your etrog!

then it is time for some actual shakes!  AMEN!

Raise the Roof!

After the big Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur - it is a quick turnaround and then Sukkot starts.  In between, you gotta get your groove on and assemble your sukkah (your hut)!

This year we bought a new sukkah for the new house. We bought it from The Sukkah Project - our good buddies had tipped us off.  The Sukkah Project was totally reasonable and the kit was awesome (and 100% kosher).  But you can not put the sukkah up with one adult and two kids under 3... I put out a call to my village... you know the village that I am always talking about... and they answered.  Seriously I just don't know how I got to be so lucky, but more than money, friends make you rich and great friends - well they just make you a millionaire!

My village arrived on Saturday.  Builders, a cake, a buddy for Jonah, extra hands to corral the kids -they were all there.  And it happened.  Like a good old Amish barn raising ceremony, the sukkah emerged on our back patio: walls, door, roof  and then we did what all good villagers do - we ate to ceremoniously mark the occasion - lots of PIZZA.

To say I am thankful for my friends' dedication is an understatement.  To say I am jubilant over my enormous and fabulous sukkah is also an understatement.  I had no idea that 8x12  was soooo big!  But I love it!

And then out of the mouths of babes, after everyone left, after an exhausting afternoon, and Vera was taking her nap, I was given another little gift.  Really, I am that lucky.

Jonah looked up at me at me as we were downstairs cleaning up a little, and he was holding some plastic fruit with metallic ribbons attached to them... and he said in the most earnest voice, "please mommy, now can we do the decorations?"

I almost cried.  He is my son.  I was really tired. I am still recovering from this crazy flu thing I got on Yom Kippur, but how could I refuse.  We did them very very slowly.  Piece by piece and item by item.  I told him about each thing.  And I hung it where he told me to.  He handed me each thing.  It was perfect.

I imagine some people have the same experience decorating Christmas Trees.  I have been collecting these decorations for 12 years.  Each one means something.  Some years we lose some to weather or just wear and tear and most years we get new ones.  It is a process.  A little cycle of life for the sukkah decorations.  I love it. I love that my Jonah loved his sukkah, but loved it more with decorations.  It is sort of like life... you work hard to build a life.  Make it sturdy. Give it walls.  Make sure it has doors to let the good stuff in, and a roof to keep the bad stuff out.  But you also need to "decorate" it with love, empathy, compassion, and lots of good energy, that's the point isn't it?

To create, beautify, enjoy, and love - those are blessings.  My sukkah and my life have them all - Thank you universe for that.

To learn all about the holiday of sukkot and the sukkah (from the religious perspective) - see HERE.

Another side note: My camera is all "f"d up... so my pictures are all either over or under exposed... apologies in advance. View them through your own kaleidoscope and they should look much better.



Mommy, we can do it... give us a chance?!!

the villagers raised the sukkah



the kids played construction site... their idea...



then Jonah and I added the decorations