Halloween. Christmas. New Year’s Eve. All great holidays. But if you asked me which holiday was my favorite, I’d answer: Passover.

Hey, what are you doing writing about Passover now? Wasn’t it at the beginning of April?! Yes. Better late than never. I haven’t written about our Easter yet, either!

Passover was especially special this year thanks to my mom who came to visit, stayed with us for 10 days, got to meet our sweet little Sebastian, played and played and played with Emily, helped out endlessly around the house, and prepared our home’s very first seder.

In Nana’s Arms

The reason I like Passover so much is not so much because of the songs or customs or food (though they’re all great!) – it’s because of the fond memories I have of growing up and celebrating with my family. We would always go to Aunt Ruthie’s house and all of the cousins would be there. Uncle Artie would lead the seder and we’d smile through the tale of oppression in the desert, laugh through the fir kashes and the seder meal, and finally lose it while seeing who could sing their verse of Echad Mi Yodea the most out of tune. All those glasses of wine helped, too.

Bobby Pins

So it was important to invite the right group of friends to our home’s very first seder. We invited a lovely group of very dear friends with whom we wanted to share this very special occasion. When they said they couldn’t make it, we invited Bob and AmJan. Ha! I kid. It wasn’t our goal to only invite the goyim – it just turned out that way.

Bowen Boys

I am happy to declare that our first seder was a resounding success. Emily had fun helping nana make the matzah “ballies”; everyone took turns reading of our escape from bondage in the haggadah (almost everyone, right Marga?); I got to lead the seder and thoroughly enjoyed doing so; the brisket, kugel, and all the other special holiday food was delicious (thanks mom!); and the afikoman was stolen, hidden, ransomed, and recovered in one piece and I didn’t have to shell out a dime for it’s safe return (maybe they’ll learn for next year).

Checking for Authenticity