1. March 2013 Updates: Celebrating Passover, Part 1

2. We started off by enjoying Matzah for breakfast. This year we were very lucky to get our Matzos thanks to Sarah’s mum – highly appreciated! Both girls took samples to class and day care to share with friends and got positive reviews.

3. The girls made “Plague bags” as a “goodies bag” for their friends attending the Seder (and for the Northridge girls). This was an idea I remembered from my days at the Sunday school in Chatswood.

4. The plague bag contains symbolic items representing the 10 Plagues Lice Wild Beasts PestilenceDarkness HailFrogs Locust Blood Boils Death of the first born

5. This year was the first time ever that Barak and I have hosted a Seder. I took the opportunity to get rid of our second-hand, 10 years old dining table and we got a huge new set, that can open from 6 to 10. We spent the week before the Seder assembling the chairs and table (it was all flat packed). The massive table, that also has storage space for wine bottles underneath, was extremely heavy so we built it in the middle of the living room. I went with Angelina, our neighbour, to buy seat covers for the leather chairs at Spotlight.

6. As Passover fell this year on a Monday night, which is very inconvenient, I suggested to our friends to have it on a Sunday, and as a lunch. Everyone thought it was a great idea. As I invited everyone to 11 am, I had to get up at 5 am and start the cooking (the traditional Seder food should be freshly cooked). The large steamer was a great help, and I cooked the rich soup for over 2 hours!

7. While the food cooked I set up the table (the kids had their own table). At 9 am Barak came down with the girls, dressed and ready, and was impressed by the sight. He was quite negative for the two weeks prior to the Seder (he has issues with celebrating holidays), but even he said it was quite nice. Alma asked if she could help and got to set up the kids’ table. Barak suddenly became really enthusiastic and went upstairs to make a CD of holiday songs...

8. The Seder plate I bought in Israel didn’t arrive on time, so I had a stand-in plate. OK, all ready on time. Where are the guests? Go to the next presentation to find out!