March 2013 Updates: Celebrating Passover, Part 2 Everyone actually came on time! So we started at 11:30 am. Yaron and Hamutal arrived by train from Five Dock with Ben and Natan, Gali and Niv arrived from Miranda with Koren and Lidan and Alison and Moshe arrived from the nearby Quakers Hill.

To read the Hagada we all sat together and did a short version, where both the adults and Hahgoot got to read aloud in Hebrew, until Alma started to demand “Food! Food!” loudly. The Matzo balls soup was a huge success! Even the kids asked for seconds! Alison brought lamb (that kept cooking in our oven until the meal so was piping hot and very tender), Gali brought two types of homemade Haroset and Hamutal contributed a veggie dish and tasty rice. We all had a fantastic time!

Niv and Gali spent most of the meal chasing nearly-one- year-old Lidan around, who crawls very fast, especially under the table...

Lidan found a great toy, though Misty might not agree... The kids ate from everything and then went off to play around the house.

Everyone commented that the atmosphere was great and they all got a real feeling of home and family, which was so nice to hear, as that is the true spirit of Passover! It was also nice to have the house filled with Hebrew speakers, big and small.

Alma kept on eating after everyone moved on to their games Thanks Gali for sharing lovely photos!

The kids organized themselves into a game of “hop off the bed into a beanbag”...

We didn’t need to call the kids twice for dessert... I made a Passover apple cake, and we also had fruit from Alison and ice cream. Alison’s mum contributed the Gefilte fish and grape juice for the kids. We had a network of grandma’s helping!

Filled with sugar the kids searched for the Afikoman, which Alison hid earlier. She was a bit too enthusiastic and hid it on the dryer, in a bucket... She forgot the kids are a bit short... But that’s OK, they enjoyed the group effort.

The Afikoman prize was a treasure chest filled with chocolate coins and a huge Easter egg that the kids shared. Then they all opened their Passover presents.

That’s it, the very successful event was over. Alma felt a bit peckish and asked to have a banana... Everyone said that if we start a tradition, we can count them in! Next year we’ll try to read more of the Hagada... Or we’ll end up like thislike this

The girls really liked the presents they got from Gali: a Smurfette LEGO set and a bubbles machine shaped as a dog. In our next presentation: News from Hahgoot!