Passover 2010

How is this year different from last year?* The 3 differences:

*This is instead of saying "how is this night different from all other nights?", which something you ask on Passover. There are also 4 questions instead of 3 differences. I'm just trying to be clever for those who are Jewish and can catch this reference. ^_~

• Last year it was just my parents, my siblings and me celebrating Passover in our unique way, but this year we invited a fellow home-schooling family who are good friends of ours. I'm so happy that we had them over, because they made the evening a lot more fun and lively. It was their first Passover experience, so all of us got a chance to teach them the special traditions and customs of the Seder. That's considered a big mitzvah (that means good deed in Hebrew.)
• Last year we tried our hand at holding a completely raw and vegan seder, with only green, freshly prepared dishes, nothing cooked. This year, since we had guests (and because we really wanted it) we had a lot more cooked foods for the festive meal that comes after the formal seder. Matzo ball soup, rice, potatoes, stir fry, salad... all I can say is YUM! ^_^ And the food was so tasty and filling that today we had a lot of leftovers. DOUBLE YUM!
• Last year my family mostly stuck to how the seder was supposed to go, reading the hagaddah (the story) in Hebrew and looking for the Afikomen and singing all the songs afterward. This year we made the seder more interactive by having each person read the hagaddah in English (though this family speaks Spanish, so they had a little trouble reading it. Not to mention it was all written in old fashioned English. Thou art, thee, verily, etc.). Also we got so caught up in conversation during and after the meal that by the time my dad hunted for the Afikomen that we kids had hidden, it was almost midnight. But really, we had lots and lots of fun with these people. After they left, we realized that we hadn't welcomed in Elijah the Prophet with them, or sung the songs "Echad Mi Yodea" and "Chad Gadya". So we carried on and officially finished the seder without them.

Continuing from the last difference I mentioned, something spooky actually happened during our seder! Elijah is kind of like a Santa Clause figure in the Passover tradition. He's not fat and jolly and doesn't give presents, but you're supposed to open your door to him and hope that the ghost Elijah will drink a little bit of wine you set aside for him. (When you think about it, I don't know how a ghost is supposed to visit every Seder in the world, like how does Santa go down all the chimneys and leave presents? Ah, but we must have our beliefs.)

Now after our friends left, my family sat down again and talked and carried on with songs and stuff. 10 minutes later, I believe it was, we suddenly heard the door SLAM! We jumped. We all looked at each other, our expressions plainly saying, "Uh, what just happened?" We joked and thought maybe it was Elijah. When my dad went to check the door, he said that it was locked, but no one remembered turning the lock when we saw our friends out the door. 0.o

Oh, and then later we heard a sound in the kitchen, like dishes making noise in the sink because they weren't balanced or something (imagine all the dishes piled up after a yummy Passover meal like the one we had). This time my mom went to investigate, but everything seemed to be in order, only she noticed that our pet cockatiel birds, Sasha and Sammy, had an alarmed look, with their crests up. That may have been because they were scared of the dishes, but still!

Very strange and spooky stuff... how often do you get to hear a ghost story on Passover? 0,o I don't believe in ghosts, but can anyone explain these kind of things without thinking ghosts? Well, at least I've made my blog a little interesting with this tale of mine. ^_^

Here are the links to last year's Passover, (pre and post). And also I thought I'd add that, before and after our guests arrived, my brother Adam and I had fun seeing videos on YouTube of old Pepsi commercials that Michael Jackson was in. ^_^ A couple of them are particularly awesome!

The links are here:

Kids who dance a lot like MJ!

A 4 part commercial that tells a story just like his music videos do.

(Do you guys think I should have a separate blog just for Michael Jackson related stuff?)