Sunday, April 4, 2010

Passover/Easter

It's been an eventful week.

Officially I went to my first Passover ceder on Monday night. Except that I didn't. I lied about it. Yes, I lied about going to a ceder. That's an extra-sinful lie, no matter how you slice it.

I was invited to three ceders this year: two with my mother's side of the family, and one with my father's. That's usually how it goes. And usually it would be physically possible for me to attend all three because my mother's family holds ceders on the official first two nights of Passover, and my father's family picks a convenient night later in the week for everyone to gather. However, I choose not to attend three ceders in one week because that is just too many ceders.

The first ceder was being hosted by my ultra-sensitive aunt. She's still holding a grudge against me from an incident four years ago in which I didn't invite her over to dinner in the correct manner. I invited her, but she didn't like the way in which I issued the invitation. Like I said, sensitive! So I felt I couldn't just say "Three ceders is too many so I'm skipping yours because you're not my parent." I decided that I'd better lie and say I was going to my father's ceder on the first night. What I actually did on Monday was work late, then go home and have gnocchi for dinner and watch two episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

The second ceder was at my mom's house. I showed up two hours before the guests to help her cook and set the table. One thing about family dinners at my mom's house: the table always looks real pretty. She polishes the brass candlesticks until they glow. There's a glass vase on the table with an arrangement of delicate, cut flowers. Silverware and wine glasses catch the light from her old-fashioned chandelier.

This time the alchemy of the evening worked out, and my family got along. Conversation was easy. Stories were told. There was some snapping and grouching, but it was kept to a bare minimum. To be fair, the grouchy people had been up all night looking after a sick child. I would have been cranky too.

The last ceder was at my uncle's house. I showed up at my father's house to bum a ride to Hamilton. My step-mother and sister were busy preparing food for the evening. The dog needed walking. And so, I did something I've never done before. I walked a dog all by myself.

I was a bit wary, even though Pesto is well-behaved. New things are always strange. Plus there was the issue of picking up poop. I've dealt with a lot of cat poop over the years, but dog poop was an unknown. My step-mom handed me two plastic bags shaped like oven mitts. I've never seen such a thing before, but I could tell right away that they would simplify the poop-handling procedure by several orders of magnitude.

I returned from the walk with the dog all in one piece, and a bag of turds swinging jauntily by my side. I had half a mind to pin it to my shirt like a medal. (But I didn't.)

Finally, there was Easter lunch at my in-laws' house this afternoon. I have one thing to say about that lunch: if you're going to a family pot-luck, try set it up so that your brother-in-law is dating a professional pastry chef. Rustic raspberry-peach pie with layers of cake-sponge, jam, and marzipan... *drool* What did everyone else bring? Who the hell cares! It was all about the pie.

What did you do for the holidays?

11 comments:

Kate said...

My turkey is cooking upstairs because my oven stopped working an hour and a half in and I'm spring cleaning my living room.

So, when my turkey is done, I'm going to eat a slice of it with some asparagus and then package the rest of it up in individual sized ziplocks for my lunches and freeze them.

And I might go for a walk.

But it's just me and the cats today. So, I guess I can do whatever I want. Right?

Jameil said...

i worked... but i'm happy abt where my film is so it balances out. did you say a professional pastry chef? it never even occurred to me to pray about my sister marrying a chef-type person b/c i was so busy thinking about myself!!! remedying that right now!!!

Jenski said...

Can I have your brother-in-laws girlfriend for holidays? We went to the zoo!!

Warped Mind of Ron said...

I sat at home with Scooter and napped.

G. B. Miller said...

Well...I did the Easter thing with my family, which is to say I said hello to everyone and disappeared to my den to catch up on my writing.

Enjoyed the gorgeous weather by doing a 45 minute hike up the mountain and basically chilled out for the rest of the day.

Anonymous said...

Despite not having an incredibly awesome pie, neither any doggie-turd medals to award, we did enjoy Easter just the same. ;) It was slow and relaxing, as we like them.

Glad yours was blessed too.

Anonymous said...

I often wonder what's going through a person's mind when they name a dog. Pesto??? Pesto is food. It's an Italian sauce. "So, here's my dog Pesto. That's my cat Ribeye Steak. And in the terrarium are my twin turtles Motza and Latka."

I've got two cats right now. Haven't named either of them. There's the big one and the little one.

Sparkling Red said...

Kate: I'm impressed that you made a turkey for yourself. Good for you! I hope it's tasty.

Jameil: You need one straight-up chef and one pastry chef in the family, to take care of mains and desserts.

Jenski: That's a tough one. In theory I like to share, but in practice... ;-)

Ron: Napping is good. :-)

G: That sounds like a really nice day. The weather was gorgeous here too.

Darcknyt: Sometimes the best answer to "what did you do?" is "nothing". :-)

WIGSF: I've always been partial to using people-names for pets, like Ralph and Marjorie.

DarcsFalcon said...

You'd never walked a dog before? Wow! I guess there's a first time for everything!

Three ceders in a week makes for one very ceder-full Red! I don't blame you for getting out of that last one.

I went to a Passover ceder with that Jews for Jesus had one year - it was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot too. :)

Glad you had a nice holiday week. :D

Claire said...

I had people over for a roast dinner and lots of puddings. It was fun!

Cx

LL Cool Joe said...

Well officially I'm still on holiday here in the States. I was sunbathing on Sunday. Had we been in the UK I would have been in church. I won't say which I preferred.