Hanukah: More Important Than Presents

Food to be delivered for Hanukah MealsParent: So, what’s your favorite Jewish Holiday?
Child: Hanukah.
Parent: What’s your favorite part about Hanukah? The special foods, the lights, the..
Child: PRESENTS!
Parent: So, uhh, what could you do to make Hanukah even better?
Child: More presents.

While the above conversation is fictional, it could easily be true. After all, what child does not like presents?

You should see my house on one of the eight crazy nights of Hanukah. After we in the MMK household light the Hanukah menorah and sing the traditional song, Mrs. MMK and I give the boys their presents.

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Hanging in the Hut

Inside of our sukka Generally, we humans like to think of ourselves as masters of our fate.  Things happen or not because of our efforts or lack thereof.

I make a lot of money because I studied hard and learned a valuable task. A leads B and B leads to C. It’s all nice and neat and comforting. Work hard and I can get what I want.

But really, is the world that orderly? Does the hardest working or strongest or smartest always get the prize? There are many people who work hard at a job that is less valued in our society therefore earn a lesser salary.  There are many strong people who never quite seem to find the right situation and flutter from job to job looking for that elusive break. And there are many smart people who are unable to find work that satisfies them, and they end up pontificating without an audience.

Survival of the fittest is not fool proof. At all.

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I Have to Admit I Like the Passover Holiday

Boys celebrating Passover Holiday

Boys – Pre-Passover 2012. The jackets were off before the Passover Seder began.

The Passover festival begins Monday evening an hour after sundown.

However for those of us who celebrate the holiday, the thought and preparation for Passover began weeks ago.

I’m not kidding.

Passover is an all-encompassing holiday.

Of course, like most religious holidays, there is the food aspect. And food is a major factor in Passover!!! We literally get rid of all our food from the year. We either eat it, throw it away, donate it, sell it (ceremoniously) or lock it away. I’ll spare you the rules and the specifics.

I’ve been managing my food shopping the last couple of weeks so that we will have a minimal amount of food left. This takes all of my food shopping skills.

I must admit this part is fun for me.

QUICK ASIDE: I ended up bringing up some food to work this week. Why is it that people will eat anything at the work place?

This zest to rid ourselves of our food forces us to do a Spring cleaning. Now, my family and I keep a neat house. However, we have a 7-year-old and a 10-year-old. Therefore, food travels to the weirdest places. “Hey, how did that pretzel end up in the sofa cushion?”

So, add cleaning to the Passover checklist. We pay someone to clean for us every other week. On top of that, I was down on my knees on the kitchen floor. By the way, I found a pretzel there too. Mrs. MMK cleaned the cabinets and put in new contact paper. These were among other tasks.

I have to admit I do like a clean house.

Anyway, we get rid of our food. The holiday lasts eight days. Therefore, it is not a fasting holiday. So, there is food shopping to do to replace the food you are ridding your home of. This special kosher for Passover food – and it’s not just Matzah – is pricey. We have already made multiple trips to the grocery store, and I foresee another one on Monday.

Then there are clothes. There is no law that one must buy new clothes.

However, I have adopted a custom. I wear at least one new item of clothing on the first and last days of the holiday. It adds to the special nature of the Passover holiday. I can’t be the only one who is wearing new clothes in the family. So, there is clothes shopping to do for the whole family. Well, my wife takes care of herself and the boys. I simply pay for it. On that note – does anyone know of any freelance writing gigs? The bank account has taken a hit.

I have to admit I like having new clothes.

A quick note on the background of the Passover holiday.  It commemorates the Exodus of the Jewish people from their bondage in Egypt. It is a holiday that celebrates our freedom and praises G-d for what he did for us.

Ultimately, the Passover holiday is about spending time with family and friends and recalling a special time in history.

I have to admit I like spending time with family and friends.

I have to admit I like this holiday.

P.S. As part of the holiday, I am going to take a blogging break. I don’t expect to post and will not get to read the blogs of others on a regular basis over the next week and a half.

Purim: Time to Dress Up and Bond

Some people know how to enjoy themselves.

One such person is my neighbor Stacey.

She is a mom of three.  Stacey says her motto is “’never grow up’!” and that “Peter Pan is my role model.”

She is a very creative person who enjoys acting, scrapbooking, creating, and counted cross stitch.

Gru, Minions, Despciable Me

Gru, Minions and Despicable Me – comes to the Jersey Suburbs (2014).

Stacey and her family have utilized that creativity as part of the celebration of the Jewish Holiday of Purim. Check out her story below.

Purim has always been my favorite Jewish holiday.

It tells of the near destruction of the Jewish people as decreed by Haman, the advisor to the king of Persia, Ahashuerus. However, newly crowned Queen Esther, is secretly a Jew. Due to her courage, she saves the Jews from evil Haman’s decree.

We celebrate Purim by giving extra charity, going to synagogue to hear the retelling of the story (and getting to shake noise makers whenever we hear Haman’s name), putting on costumes, giving and getting baskets of food, giving charity to the poor, and having a Purim feast.

I like everything about Purim.

As a kid, the Purim story was fun to hear. During my teenage years, I loved having one day a year where I got to see all my loved ones- friends and family.  And now as a mom of three boys, it is the perfect bonding time for my family.

The holiday gives us license to regress a bit and be a kid. My boys tell my husband and I that we neither look nor act our age (they say this as a compliment) and on Purim we get to let the child within us, out!

How do we do this? We take our dress up SERIOUSLY. In fact, my boys start thinking about our theme a year in advance!

It began when my eldest, was just 18 months, and we already had a lion costume. At the last minute I ran into a store and bought a teenager size Dorothy costume to ‘match’ my baby. I begged my husband to dress up but he adamantly refused. The night of Purim, as we were getting ready to go to sleep, he relented. “Fine, I’ll dress up.”

At the last minute, I scrambled and found old maternity size overalls, and an old broom. We managed to pull together a scarecrow costume which he wore for our Purim day. And so the tradition began.

Through the years we continued dressing up as a family, usually sticking with Disney themes. I always got ‘stuck’ with the girl role; my husband, with the ‘villain’ role.  And my boys continue to up the ante.

Toy Story 2 - Purim 2012

Toy Story 2 Purim 2012- Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Zurg and Jesse

Occasionally, I got off easy- store bought costumes- like when we were all the Incredibles – but usually my boys have more complicated requests…. like when we turned our teenager into a plastic army man from Toy Story (he needed help getting out of those duck taped pants— good thing we did a dress rehearsal or the kid would not have been able to move, let alone breathe!).

Then there was the year that I created a magic carpet to go for as part of an Aladdin costume for my then 5-year-old. I had an old tv tray- used posters and markers and drew a replica of the magic carpet that Disney created and then hung blue streamers from the table to serve as the ‘sky’ (and hide the table legs). However, a rinky dink tv table could barely hold a cup of juice let alone the weight of my son and Aladdin ‘needed’ to be flying on that carpet, so I proceeded to fill a pair of white pants with stuffing and glued them down on to the ‘carpet.’

Purim 2006 - Disney's Aladdin

Disney’s Aladdin- Purim 2006- Aladdin, Jafar, Jasmine and the Genie

As you can imagine, getting the costumes ready is occasionally stressful, but I wouldn’t change it for the world!

Disney's Monsters INC Purim 2013

Disney’s Monsters INC Purim 2013- Randall, Sulley, Mike Wazowski, Boo, CDA (child detection agency)

Dressing up as one theme and then trying to squish into our mid-size car fills my family and me with laughter. It gives us pictures and memories that will last a lifetime.

Yes, that’s Purim! What’s not to like?

Disney's Beauty & the beast- Purim 2011

Disney’s Beauty & the beast- Purim 2011- Belle, the Beast, Chip, Cogsworth and Lumiere