A Joyous Pesach!

Monday evening marked the beginning of Passover, but for us, the holiday preparations began much earlier. In truth, they began last spring, when we planted the horseradish that we dug up for the Seder plate. But more recently, the holiday marked a time for cooking and cleaning, which began last week. The cleaning, this year, included not only the practical vacuuming and ceremonial search for chametz (breadcrumbs), but also a massive pen cleaning in the barn, scooping up months of bedding and putting down fresh pine shavings. The barn’s never smelled so sweet!

We were expecting six kids at our Seder, and after years of using a haggadah that Karl had put together while living in Brooklyn, this year we updated it to include material geared to a younger audience. Some highlights: a true story of a Seder held by Union troops in West Virginia woods during the Civil War, a sermon about Moses from 1927 by the poet and early Civil Rights activist James Weldon Johnson (okay, the kids couldn’t sit still through that one), and a set of plague finger puppets. But the true highlight was listening to Charlotte recite the entire Exodus story from memory–from Joseph’s dream to the parting of the Red Sea. She did it in a clear voice, with very little prompting, and Karl and I were fairly bursting with pride.

Finally, the meal. In the kitchen, work started on Sunday, and the girls and I were chopping and mixing until the first guests arrived on Monday. Our guests brought dishes, too, for a great feast! The menu:

A wonderful night! Stay tuned for recipes in the coming days….