Days of feasting and joy
Mar. 20th, 2011 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livBest. Purim. Ever!
The first excellent thing was thatangelofthenorth and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
gwyddno happened to be passing through Stoke this weekend, and they helped me to celebrate and provided excellent company. They showed up Saturday evening, even remembering to bring sholoch monos (the traditional purim gifts). I had to be very stubborn to get supper on the table in the face of all the distractions of hanging out with them. I made a Thai curry with a courgette omelette, and we drank sparkling Italian white wine and compared wedding plans and made atrocious puns and generally had a brilliant time. I discovered that my new sofa is very comfortable when I have guests sleeping in my beds.
This morning we took things fairly easy, and ate French toast and a selection of cheese and drank tea and enjoyed being together.gwyddno joined me on an expedition to find little toys to give out to the children. It was actually surprisingly fun wandering around the pound shop indulging my magpie instincts! I wasn't sure what ages or genders the children were going to be, so I tried to buy some fairly neutral stuff; once I'd ruled out toy weapons (ugh), pink glittery princess stuff (ugh), and branded toys, there was still a pretty good choice.
I don't know quite what happened with shul. More people showed up than I have ever seen before, even for the "big" events like Yom Kippur. And, well, the most children we've had at any event since I joined the community is three, so I thought I was leaving plenty of margin by buying 12 presents. Not even close; we had seventeen children. (I ended up giving out the presents to the tiny ones and those who'd made an effort to dress up, but I still felt bad about not having presents for everyone.) And lots of adults, including people who weren't the parents of these children. We ran out of seats and we even undercatered, which is basically unheard of at Jewish events. My plan to introduceangelofthenorth and gwyddno to the community didn't really work, as I didn't know half the people present.
That was really not what I was expecting, and I do wonder what rumours have been going round that made people think my megillah reading was going to be that much of a draw! There were some great costumes, too, even among the adults. I went as Pippi Longstocking (one stripy knee-length sock and one ankle sock, a short-ish, flared skirt, a frilly short-sleeved blouse over a stripy top, and of course the obligatory two out-of-control plaits in my hair); the problem with this was that half the people didn't know who Pippi is (!) and half didn't believe my hair was really my hair.
So anyway, I read the megillah in the most dramatic style I could muster, with brief summaries in English after each chapter. (Because the reading has always been done by visitors from Chabad in the past, I didn't quite realize the shul owns a real klaf (handwritten) scroll of Esther, so I hadn't entirely planned to read without vowels and pointing, but I was well enough prepared that I could wing it.) The kids were remarkably attentive for the 45 minutes that took. The problem with having my friends present is that I knew full well they'd spot all the innuendos in the story, not to mention being quite aware of the subtext of my doing Esther pleading with the King while dressed up as a cute little girl. So I basically avoided meeting their eyes throughout, and only stumbled once on difficult Persian names, and resisted the temptation to make any editorial glosses ('maybe you should build a really tall structure, that always makes men feel better'). My plans for children's games didn't quite work out, because there really wasn't space for that many children to play active party games. But they seemed to be enjoying themselves anyway.
The only downer is that when I got home I just couldn't stop sneezing for about 4 hours solid, which is a bit annoying. I've taken some anti-histamines which hopefully will give me a hope of being able to get some sleep tonight.
The first excellent thing was that
angelofthenorth and gwyddno happened to be passing through Stoke this weekend, and they helped me to celebrate and provided excellent company. They showed up Saturday evening, even remembering to bring sholoch monos (the traditional purim gifts). I had to be very stubborn to get supper on the table in the face of all the distractions of hanging out with them. I made a Thai curry with a courgette omelette, and we drank sparkling Italian white wine and compared wedding plans and made atrocious puns and generally had a brilliant time. I discovered that my new sofa is very comfortable when I have guests sleeping in my beds. This morning we took things fairly easy, and ate French toast and a selection of cheese and drank tea and enjoyed being together.
gwyddno joined me on an expedition to find little toys to give out to the children. It was actually surprisingly fun wandering around the pound shop indulging my magpie instincts! I wasn't sure what ages or genders the children were going to be, so I tried to buy some fairly neutral stuff; once I'd ruled out toy weapons (ugh), pink glittery princess stuff (ugh), and branded toys, there was still a pretty good choice. I don't know quite what happened with shul. More people showed up than I have ever seen before, even for the "big" events like Yom Kippur. And, well, the most children we've had at any event since I joined the community is three, so I thought I was leaving plenty of margin by buying 12 presents. Not even close; we had seventeen children. (I ended up giving out the presents to the tiny ones and those who'd made an effort to dress up, but I still felt bad about not having presents for everyone.) And lots of adults, including people who weren't the parents of these children. We ran out of seats and we even undercatered, which is basically unheard of at Jewish events. My plan to introduce
angelofthenorth and gwyddno to the community didn't really work, as I didn't know half the people present.That was really not what I was expecting, and I do wonder what rumours have been going round that made people think my megillah reading was going to be that much of a draw! There were some great costumes, too, even among the adults. I went as Pippi Longstocking (one stripy knee-length sock and one ankle sock, a short-ish, flared skirt, a frilly short-sleeved blouse over a stripy top, and of course the obligatory two out-of-control plaits in my hair); the problem with this was that half the people didn't know who Pippi is (!) and half didn't believe my hair was really my hair.
So anyway, I read the megillah in the most dramatic style I could muster, with brief summaries in English after each chapter. (Because the reading has always been done by visitors from Chabad in the past, I didn't quite realize the shul owns a real klaf (handwritten) scroll of Esther, so I hadn't entirely planned to read without vowels and pointing, but I was well enough prepared that I could wing it.) The kids were remarkably attentive for the 45 minutes that took. The problem with having my friends present is that I knew full well they'd spot all the innuendos in the story, not to mention being quite aware of the subtext of my doing Esther pleading with the King while dressed up as a cute little girl. So I basically avoided meeting their eyes throughout, and only stumbled once on difficult Persian names, and resisted the temptation to make any editorial glosses ('maybe you should build a really tall structure, that always makes men feel better'). My plans for children's games didn't quite work out, because there really wasn't space for that many children to play active party games. But they seemed to be enjoying themselves anyway.
The only downer is that when I got home I just couldn't stop sneezing for about 4 hours solid, which is a bit annoying. I've taken some anti-histamines which hopefully will give me a hope of being able to get some sleep tonight.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-21 01:26 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-03-22 08:51 am (UTC)I shall have to avenge myself upon you with distractions, madam...
It was an awesome and fun weekend and I had an amazing time :) Even if head was hurting and I was hiding under the duvet for some of it. 17 children?! Where did the last one come from as I'd got to 16 but they were wriggling