I bet all of you are in the swing of Purim preparations by now!  Isn’t it fun?  I came home tonight to find my oldest two girls still awake.  One decided today she wasn’t happy with the costume she had planned, so she created something new.  She used a huge light brown suede shirt that we picked up when we got those free clothes I mentioned a week and a half ago, and cut it up and fringed it to make a Native American dress.  It looks really good!  I love seeing my children exercise creativity and initiative . 

My other dd was busy sewing costume props for my dh.  He’s writing the shul Purim shpiel this year – he did it a couple of years ago, and didn’t think he’d have time for it again when they asked him this year.  But after telling them ‘no’, he squeezed some time from here and there, and now my dd is sewing the props he wants for the shpiel.  He titled it, The Adventures of Super Jew and Bar Mitzva Boy, so most of what she’s making right now is a cape, and several two color logos that go on the chest (like the Superman S).  She’s also using the free clothing stuff we got off of Craig’s List to make them – a royal blue graduation gown and a red satin ladies shirt. 

The kids put their shalach manos together today, and my older dds baked the challahs for our family to send out.  I decided to send challah rolls with homemade hummous – I have to buy some small containers for the hummous in the morning.  We’ll bag the challahs tomorrow and put the hummous in the containers, so early Purim morning, all we’ll have to do is quickly assemble it in the baskets with cellophane.  (Including the basket and plastic container for hummous, the total cost for each one will be .75 or so, and it will make a nice looking shalach manos.)   I’d rather have it all assembled earlier than that, but practically speaking don’t have room for all the baskets in the fridge.  Since everything else will be done, it should work out fine.  

My dd14 is also decorating the house – it’s something she enjoys, and I’m happy to let her do it!  She stayed up late with me to wait for the challahs to finish baking, and used her time to hang a mobile that she made from the dining room light fixture.  She also got my dh to make a great poster (he’s the one with artistic talent, not me!) that she put up on our bulletin board.

Tomorrow night will end up being a late night, since we have the Purim shpiel after the megilla reading, and we always get home late.  The next day shouldn’t be too rushed, though, since my dh is working part of the day, and we won’t be having our seuda until 6 pm.  That will give us plenty of time to do all the deliveries (which are always a fun part of the day – we all go together and deliver to everyone’s friends.)  So far only one child has given me his list, and tomorrow the others will need to tell me who they’re giving to, so I can map out the master delivery route.

And don’t forget that Purim is a special day for davening (prayer)!  I’m going to actively plan out some time in advance to be sure that the day doesn’t go by without me taking advantage of this unique spiritual opportunity. 

I hope that all of you have a fun and meaningful Purim!

Avivah

PS – I won’t be posting my weekly menu this week, since we have so many leftovers from Shabbos, plus with Purim things will be different than usual.