Chag Purim 2007

Last year, I wrote about Purim. I meant to write a follow-up to that post this year.

This year really was quite nice. Saturday night, we went to megilla reading. The synagogue got overflowed with people, so my father volunteered to have an extra reading outdoors. I went outdoors and enjoyed the fairly tame reading. Indoors, there were firecrackers going off, wild yelling, and other noise issues which made Yaakov less than pleased with the reading.

After the megilla reading, there was a show. Yaakov performed.

If you look at the picture, you can also see some other people who are very important to me. The girl in the black sweatshirt behind the flower is Silky Lilchy. The fuzzy yellow chick is Princess Abigail Rebecca. The one next to her with the striped socks is Lady Hadas. The bleached-blonde boy in the striped blue shirt is 'Tan Tooney. (Yes, those are all siblings of each other.)

The white rabbit behind the yellow chick is Luli, my across-the hall neighbor. Next to her, you can see her mother and her baby sister Nilush. Nilush is helping me prepare for taking care of a newborn. She's very good at all the things babies do. She cries, spits up, makes cooing sounds, smiles, and sleeps. I'm watching her learn new things. It's amazing how much she has grown in just 2 months. She already turns over from her tummy to her back.

Anyway... back to Purim... Sunday morning, we went to my parents' house for a family megilla reading followed by some musical performances from my oldest brother's children. His oldest (Tzvi) played harmonica, while the next in line (Elisheva) played recorder. Both children are very proficient, and did a humorous bit with their instruments.

The next two sang very nicely. We all enjoyed a yummy bagel brunch, and stayed around telling jokes and playing games and just talking. After a while, Yaakov and I went home and took a nap. Then we went out to deliver mishloach manot - gifts of food.

We also received a variety of different foods, ranging from an incredible chocolate cake and pudding mixture to the healthier apples and almonds. We nibbled at the various goodies, and then Purim was over.

Unlike last year, there was no goodbye to Yaakov, just good night.