Happy Thanksgiving! Essen! Essen! (Yiddish for eat, eat!)

Turkey's cookin in the oven, parades are on the TV, and oh...ya...the invitations are still on the dining room table. But we'll get those wrapped up tomorrow! And in a future post, I'll tell you the story about that one. Not a bad story, but one that I'll be more interested in sharing once the invites have left the house! (how's that for a cliff hanger!)

Anyways...it's thanks giving. Which makes me think about food. Which makes me think about my meetings with the caterers next week. But that is a story for yet another post (I'm killen ya softely with all the suspense here, aren't I ha!)

Anyways...food.

Andrew has a lot of favorite foods, and I attribute his not so persnickety pallet entirely to Danny. When Andrew was a baby, and started eating from the Gerber aisle, his menu delivered a pureed potpourri of gastronomical delight! Simply put, we introduced him to a whole lot of different foods. Danny not only bought the traditional sweet potatoes, carrots, and apple sauce, but he also combed the grocery stories for spinach, peas and other delectable vegetable combinations.

Andrew also got a taste for Jewish cooking at a young age. At a Passover Seder in Fargo, Esther (G-d**Bless her!*) gave Andrew his first taste of a pickle, at 3 months old. We have it on video; the transcript reads like this:

Esther: Aaaaa Peeekle?
Andrew: Wide mouthed, wide eye smiling
Esther: Aaaa Peekle?
Andrew: Wide mouthed, wide eyed smiling and giggling

At that same Seder, he had his first taste of chicken soup in his Avent baby bottle.

I mention Avent, because, when Andrew was a baby, I was obsessed with having that brand. I couldn't tell you today why that was the bottle of choice or even what that bottle had over other bottles. Parenting magazine told me that was the one I MUST have, so that is what I bought!

So, my mom fed him the soup, in his Avent bottle. This act of love was also a homage to me when I was a baby. Her mom fed me chicken soup from a bottle, which I'm pretty positive wasn't Avent!

In the Jewish tradition, food is a way of expressing love. And we've expressed a whole lot of love over the years. We've been so fortunate to have shared meals with friends and family for holidays, Shabbats, birthdays and anniversaries.

And we look very forward to sharing a meal with you to celebrate Andrew's big day.

Happy Thanksgiving!


*During the Jewish holiday of Purim, the story of Queen Esther is read to the congregation. When the story is read during the kids service, there are a lot of theatrics and audience participation. One way the congregation participates is by saying "G-d Bless Her" each time the name Queen Esther is read. To this day, I can't meet a woman named Esther and not either out loud or silently to myself say the words, "G-d Bless her".

**Jewish tradition holds G-d's name in high regard, and as a result, the name is not written out on pages that might be thrown away. I'm not sure how this applies to the Intranet, but I'm not going to take any chances :) Paranoid? Yes!

DIY -- invitations

Invitations are more than information on a page. They set the tone. They set the scene. They give permission. I asked Andrew what he wanted, and his reply was simple. Just send out a note that says you're invited. Hope you can come.

This invitation will be more detailed than an evite, but less regal than a royal wedding. In fact, I've decided to take the frugal approach and make my own. (...which you are about to learn is a comic event in itself.)

Poor Andrew. While I'm a very doting parent, I never created scrapbooks or took a lot of pictures over these past 12 years. Thankfully, Danny has! As you are probably realizing, I'm channeling those 12 years of memories into this blog...and the invitation.

Say what you will, with what you end up receiving, but I wouldn't trade in this DIY (do it yourself) experience. Here's how I approached the process.
1. Colors -- As you may remember, colors are a bit of a sore subject with me. (see "It's all about..." post ). So in order to figure out the what colors to go with I drew inspiration from Andrew's new Tallis that his grandma and Bumpa, Esther and Mike bought for him. Ironically, there's a lot of blue.

2. Design elements -- Should it fold? Should it have an envelope for the envelope? Should the RSVP be completed via email, or should I include a card to mail in. How many versions should be created? In town guests, out-of-town guests, Friday night dinner, the service, the party. Is an invite necessary for Sunday brunch. Should I include the card from the hotel? Am I'm driving you crazy yet with all my questions?

3. Do I order, or do I make them myself? -- Loving, caring, inclusive. These are all words that describe me. Patient, perfectionist, passive. These words? Not so much. So making my own invitations has become a group effort. My mom came with me to help cut out the invitations and the stars. Many have read and proofed what I wrote as well as assembled and glued. Let me tell you, it doesn't only take a village to raise a child!

4. How long does it really take to make them myself? --
The process to get these invitations out has been more comic than convenient. And, I'm only admitting this to you...it's a bit of a potchka (Yiddish I think for clumsy, not so easy to do). For example... After using what I thought was the 'glue tape' dispenser to stick on the stars, I realized I was using the refill packet, not the dispenser. No wonder the tape wasn't working so well!

5. Reality has met the road
Ironically, of all the planning I've been doing, getting these invitations ready to send has been the hardest. Even writing this post has taken me most of the week! Later this week these handcrafted creations will be mailed, which means this milestone is is no longer a plan, but rather a party!

11-11-11

Andrew's favorite number? Eleven.

Why? It's the first two numbers in his birthday 1-1-99! Andrew's been active in sports since he was about 4, and for every sport -- t-ball, basketball, baseball -- we've lobbied the coaches to give him either the number 1 or 11. We've been pretty successful, too.

I thought it would be fun today if I gave you a top 11 list, since the dates over emphasizes Andrew's favorite number. So here are the top 11 reflections on Andrew's (Danny and I) journey to Andrew's Bar Mitzvah.

11.
Add up Talmud Torah, Saturday School, Haftorah tutoring, rabbi meetings, cantor meetings and you'll get more than 1,500 classes.

10.
Ghost stories, gossip, homework, being the first to spot a yellow car, jamming out to KDWB and sports talk, are just a few ways the kids in the carpool passed the time to and from Talmud Torah. Not like I was eaves dropping or anything!

9.
A teacher whose dad married Danny and I, a teacher from Israel, a teacher from South Africa. Andrew's Jewish education has proven that it's a small world after all! (insert song here)

7.
A Mazda 5, Mazda 6, Mitzsubishi, Greenie the SUV, Brownie the mid-size car. What do these things have common? Cars that have made appearances at the doors of Talmud Torah many days a week, and Adath for Saturday School.

6.
Tossed salad in a plastic bag, cold cut sandwiches, McDonalds, Subway, Burger King. Just a few of the gourmet meals that have been elegantly served from the moonlit seats...of the car on our way from Talmud Torah to either Basketball or Baseball practice or games.

5.
White shirts, blue pants, accordians, hebrew songs and proud parents. Yes, we attended a few class performances, and Andrew's performance was better than Broadway, of course!

4.
Coffee, hummus, bagels, lemonade, brownies, cake. Foods that are plentiful at all parent-kid events at Talmud Torah.

3.
Driving from Robbinsdale Middle School to Zachary Lane to the JCC. Driving from the JCC to the Levitt's, to the Lehman's to the Fienbergs to our house. A round about route to and from school to TT to home.

2.
Driving, Driving, Driving, Driving. Deserves a reflection all on its' own

1.
Sure feels crazy to think all these events are now in the rear view mirror.