Passover

Passover is my most favorite of the Jewish holidays. The first year I prepared the Passover Seder (the ritual meal on the first or second night of Passover commemorating the exodus of the Jews from Egypt) in our home was in 1985, and there are only a couple of years from then until now that we have attended Seder someplace else. Last year, Passover was just one week after Jill and Clark were married. Since the dining room was full of wedding presents, and Jill and Clark were returning from their honeymoon on the first night of Passover, I decided that maybe we would just "skip" Passover. Not something many Jewish people do. Passover is the most celebrated of all of the Jewish holidays and is also celebrated by most secular and unobservant Jews. I knew Jill was disappointed when she said, "Mom, we're not going to have Passover at all?" But she also knew as did the rest of the family that cooking and preparing for the Seder was something I couldn't even think about before the wedding. A couple of days after the wedding I thought of a great place to have the Seder. I called the Country Club and asked if we could have our Seder there. They were very accomodating. I made the matza ball soup, charoset and the other ceremonial foods at home, took it all to the Club along with the Haggadahs and everything else that was needed . The Club prepared the main meal and it worked out great! We had our Seder on the second night of Passover instead of the first night, and our guest list was a little different than usual since most of our regulars had made other plans when I told them that I was not having the Seder. I invited our family, Clark's family and a few friends. They all enjoyed it, we enjoyed it, and the Club management even asked me about a month ago if I had booked the Club yet for Passover. Although I was tempted to go to the Club for Passover again, I really like celebrating the holiday in our home. However, the Passover dilema presented itself again this year. Jill's sister in law is being married tonight, the first night of Passover. The weekend has been full of festivities, and it is not possible to have Seder on the first or the second night or even the couple of days before or after. I'm still trying to figure out when to celebrate Passover this year. Maybe I'll just prepare everyones favorite Passover foods (matza ball soup, brisket, and choroset) for dinner one night next week for Billy and me, Dana, Nathan and William, and Jill and Clark. Next year the first night of Passover is on Wednesday, April 8th. No conflicts yet! Below are pictures from last year.

They sure are paying attention!