Wednesday, May 2, 2018

Passover 2018

Happy spring, everyone! Even though Mother Nature can't figure out what she wants (70 degrees one day, snow the next), I'm still happy about the change of seasons. As you know, spring brings one of my favorite holidays, Passover. This is actually my 7th Passover recap on this blog. That's nuts!

Most Passovers follow the same script (literally! The Haggadah!). This one wasn't too different, except that my phone died right before Passover so I don't have any of my own pictures of the trip. I have a couple from my sister to share though. Here are some highlights from the holiday:

Getting There and Back
This year Dan's work schedule meant that he had to come later and leave earlier than we were initially planning, so I took the kids down on my own. It was my first time flying by myself with the two of them, and it actually went really well! Dan dropped us off at the metro in the morning on his way to work. The flight wasn't too bad--especially because we had a row to ourselves, but the seat belt sign was on the whole time, which meant Asher couldn't walk around.

The way back was a little more eventful. Again we got a row to ourselves, which was awesome. And again the plane was really bumpy, which was less awesome. The kids did so well for most of the flight, but sadly Z got sick at the very end (really turbulent landing). Thankfully the plane was filled with really nice people who all jumped in to help. One passenger even held a screaming, kicking Asher while I cleaned Z up. Though the ending wasn't ideal, I'm still pretty proud of how we all handled both flights. Now that I've done it once, I am sure I can do it again. That feels good.

Family
To me, Passover is all about family. Sadly I lost my uncle earlier this year. I knew Passover would be especially difficult because he always led the first night seder. My cousin planned on flying in from Colorado with her daughter so that she and Asher could play. They're only a couple of months apart and have only met once--last year at Passover. Well, poor Phoenix got sick and had to miss out on the seder. At least we got most of us together for a really nice, meaningful night.

Seders
I love the Seders. I love the food, the songs, the stories, the people...all of it! First night is always family and second night is friends. This year, Zahara stayed up for both seders and was able to fully participate. You can imagine how proud I was hearing her sing the 4 questions. Asher even stayed up for a lot of the first night. It was wonderful having them there.



The second night we started a fun new tradition: a make your own charoset bar. Charoset is a sweet mixture of fruits and nuts. This year, we put out a bunch of ingredients, including apples, pears, walnuts, dates, apricots, cinnamon, and grape juice. It was really yummy and really fun.

I wish I had more pictures of Asher helping me make the chocolate mousse, or dad leading two great seders, or Zahara singing the four questions. But, there's always next year. As we say at the end of each Seder, next year in Jerusalem!

Read previous Passover posts:
2017: Life Updates
2016: Passover 2016
2015: Passover Recap
2014: Passover in Paris
2013: Passover PreparationPassover Musings
2012: Happy Passover!Road Trip

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