Short day, long fun evening. I had a funny realization as I left the office this afternoon. I walked into my office this morning at 9:30 (already two phone meetings into the day) , closed the door , sat down, picked up the phone then didn’t stand up or see another human until 5:00. this afternoon. I was n phone meetings all day without a break  I didn’t get up to eat… or drink  or even go to the restroom  It seemed like the day passed by in a flash.  I’m not sure how I managed to do that.. but I was busy and productive (I think).    Strange..

    I got home around 5:30 to help set up for our one day late Passover Seder.  Diane and the boys had already gotten everythign ready.

It turned out that we had 20 people total  so it was like another spontaneous party. Even though Hannah Deene and I were the only Jewish folks in the room, everyone got into the sprit. As folks were showing up, I realized that I could not find my stash of Hagadahs,, (haggadot ?)  anywhere in the house.. Frantically I went online looking for one we could use. I found several.. Ironically.. none of them free.,,   I dropped 18 bucks for one and started to print it out only to find it was like 72 pages.. ! Yikes.. I quickly found another.. this one only 16 bucks that promised  ‘The 30 Minute Seder.. Blends brevity with tradition‘.. no joke. Believe it or not.. it had all the important points.. even the songs So what if it was a little ‘readers digest-y J. I printed out a few and we gathered everyone around for dinner.   We managed to get the whole service  in before anyone started dozing off or throwing  food. Hannah and I sort of co-lead the service while we let everyone take turns with the readings. We did a fair bit f discussion .. Luckily we all had the common experience of having seen Charlton Heston in the 10 commands.. the definitive version of the old testament story.   We talked through the story of Passover and the traditions of the Seder plate.. the stuff you eat, the four questions (manisha tah nah, chalilah chazeh.. mechoch halelot ahno okleen… )..  the ten plaques, the four cubs of wine.. buy the end our heads were swimming with numbers.. or was it the cheap sweet manishevitz we were drinking.  

There are a few hard parts of the ceremony for me.. we ate the new green parsley which represents the new life of spring.. dipped in the salty water that represents the tears of loss.. I was thinking of Sam there.. I was also thinking of Sam  when we poured the glass of wine for the Prophet Elijah.. we poured another glass for Sam and took them outside for the two of them..

  We got to the fourth glass of wine, sang a few songs (most jews can’t sing) then hit the feast.   Folks had brought all sorts of traditional foods.. matzo ball soup, gefilte fish, fresh asparagus, fish chicken.. it was all really delicious..  I think everyone had a good time with the  celebration..   After dinner, the kids went running around the downstairs searching for the  afekommen the piece of the middle matzo that I’d hidden while everyone closed their eyes.. The person who finds it is supposed to get a fabulous prize… Ian T found it tonight his sort of fabulous prize was a bag of chocolate eggs.. which he graciously shared with everyone… What a guy.. As if that wasn’t enough sweets, Diane brought out a birthday cake ad cie cream for Avery L’s birthday which was yesterday… more food !

   Things started to quiet down around 10ish.. the kids started playing music and the grown folks did the mountain of dishes. It was great hearing the kids play music together…It was a great end to a great day..

As a final part of cleanup ,  I went out to get the  glasses of wine we’d pt out for Elijah and for Sam… only to find that Sam’s glass had tipped over and was empty.. Hope you liked it Sam

 -jc