During the afternoon JB and I took Syd grocery shopping for the first time and we really had fun with her.
Before we got out of the car I asked Syd what she wanted to eat for dinner for Passover. Without blinking an eye she said: “Pork!” PORK, for goodness sakes. I don’t keep Kosher but I just couldn’t serve PORK for Passover! I couldn’t have given her a BLT sandwich either, for that matter. I politely told Syd that we’d get some chicken or turkey, which would be a better dish for her.
Ever the detail person: one of the first things that Syd wanted to know about the Seder dinner was what were we having for dessert. She was thrilled when I told her ice cream. It isn’t part of the traditional Seder dinner but I know that it’s one of her favorite things….so, of course, we’d have it.
Passover involves drinking 4 cups of wine and eating bitter herbs, horseradish. You’ll be relieved to know that Syd didn’t do either. She had Kosher grape juice and we let her skip the horseradish since she doesn’t like anything spicy. Frankly, when I was young, even though we were children, we drank Manischewitz wine. It’s no surprise that I always thought that Passover was a really cool holiday.
Syd loved having the hardboiled egg dipped in salt water but she wasn’t a big fan of eating parsley that she’d also dipped in the salt water. But she thought it was fine to do it when I explained that the salt water represented the tears of pain the Jewish people endured when they were slaves in Israel. She loved the Matzah.
An important part of the Seder involves the youngest person at the table reading The Four Questions, which are about how different this night is from all other nights.
The starring role fell to Syd and she gladly read the questions along with me. I’d say a few words and she’d repeat them after me. She read everything with the right inflection and easily pronounced even difficult words correctly. She would follow along running her small fingers under the words as if she could really read them…which I’m not certain that she can’t! At one point she realized that we weren’t looking at the same page and she asked me to get her to the right page in the prayer book, the Haggadah. She was fascinated with the fact that the book goes back to front.
I told her that we were eating on the beautiful plates that had belonged to my Dallas Grandmother Nana. Syd knows that I was extremely close to her and told me: “I’ll be very careful. I won’t break any of the plates.” Syd is very close to her Grandparents so she knows that things that belonged to them are special.
It’s custom to leave a full glass of wine and an empty chair at the table for the Prophet Elijah. We pointed that out to Sydney. There’s a portion of the Seder when the children go open the front door of the house to let Elijah in. That’s what Syd and I did. When we came back to the table JB told her that the Prophet’s wine glass was empty. Syd looked straight at JB with that all knowing look that she has, and just smiled! You can’t fool that girl.
After we finished dinner it was time for Syd to find the Afikoman, the hidden Matzah. I put it under some of her princess costumes. When she found it she jumped for joy. So you want to know what her gift was?…a Barbie, of course. It wasn’t an Israeli Barbie or anything like that…it was a Mermaid Barbie for her leisurely bath time enjoyment!
Happy Passover & Happy Easter!
Love, D2 & JB
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