Jimimininny Crickets! It’s Passover again — that time of year when Jews all over the world go on the Atkins diet for a week.
Last night was the second Seder, a long, fun, loud, ridiculous meal during which Jews retell the story of their Exodus from Egypt. The story is told by reading from a book called the Hagaddah. Often, the group goes around the table with each person reading a passage so everyone gets to participate. Reading aloud can get a little tricky when Hebrew, Aramaic and English words are all sprinkled together… not to mention some difficult-to-pronounce names. (Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah?) It’s not uncommon for people to stumble over some of the words.
One passage discussed the peculiar absence of Moses from the Hagaddah:
Some suggest that Moses is intentionally marginalized in order to avoid any deification and to suggest that ultimately it is God who brought us out of Egypt, not Moses or any other human being.
Me: I’m glad I didn’t get that passage. Aric: Yeah, there’s a very important “i” in “deification.” Me: I definitely would have read that wrong.
Every Hanukkah someone usually gets someone else a board game. Then, after lighting candles and stuffing our faces, we usually end up playing it. This year my dad got Kelly a game called “Quelf.” I can’t tell if it’s the best game ever or the worst. I’m not even sure if it’s actually a game.
The rules are simple: roll dice, land on a colored square, draw a card with that color on it and do what the card says.
The problem is, there’s not really a point to the cards. One card told me to build a snorkel out of household items before my next turn and wear it for the rest of the game. Ummmmmm. Okay. Kelly had to sing “Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes” in a made-up language. Whenever someone landed on a red square we were all required to shout, “Quelf in the name of the farm!” Often after someone finished “playing” a card we’d all shrug and say, “Well, I guess you did it” as the dice were passed to the next person.
When game ended and we were all pretty glad… and a little sad.
And now, a picture of me, my homemade snorkel and a puppy:
At some point in my life I became a minimalist as far as the word “Hanukah” was concerned: No “C” one “N” and one “K.” Simple. Elegant. And, as far as I knew, an approved spelling. But now that Firefox has built-in spell checking, I’m told that “Hanukah” is actually misspelled. “Hanukkah” is the only approved spelling. “Chanukah?” Misspelled. “Hannukkah?” Misspelled. “Grabjorblart?” Misspelled.
As a result, I’ve actually changed my behavior. I hate those dotted red underlines so much that I now spell Hanukkah with two k’s. Happy 8th night of Hanukkah everyone! Take it away, LeeVees:
One of Columbia University’s best traditions (aside from Orgo Night) was the lighting of the trees along College Walk for the holidays. Michigan Avenue does it up okay, but the trees at Columbia were amazing. There were so many lights wrapped around every branch!
I don’t celebrate Christmas, but I sure like it a lot. I loved those lights and I love Christmas carols and I love It’s A Wonderful Life.
If I did celebrate Christmas, I’d definitely invest in some new LED Christmas lights. If you’re a Chicagoan, you can buy them at a discount from ComEd’s online store. Christmas lights are an ideal candidate for LEDs. Here are five reasons that have nothing to do with “saving the earth.”
LEDs are naturally colorful. It’s only recently that a good white LED was created.
Christmas lights are left on all the time. LEDs consume about 1/8th as much electricity as incandescents.
Christmas lights don’t actually need to illuminate a room. LEDs aren’t actually that bright.
They run a lot cooler than normal lights in case you’re putting them next to something flammable like, say, a tree.
These days, they’re basically the same price as standard incandescent Christmas lights.
My cousins from the Bay Area have been coming into town for the last couple thanksgivings. Like many families, we spend the weekend eating non stop, catching up, and playing games. Last year I happened to have an XBox with Dance Dance Revolution on it so I brought it up to my parents’ house where we all could play. After my brothers and cousins and I sufficiently humiliated ourselves, we tried to get our grandma to give it a try. And wouldn’t you know it, she did.
I don’t think she really knew what was going on, but she had a big smile on her face as she poked the buttons randomly with her cane. I think she did better than my dad.
This thanksgiving, Guitar Hero was the game of choice. All three of my living grandparents were there. They weren’t big fans of the music, complaining that it was too noisy and they couldn’t understand the words. They complained, that is, until Warrant’s “Cherry Pie” came on. For some reason they all liked that song.
GRANDMA JANET: This one’s pretty. GRANDMA BEVERLY: Cheer for cherry pie, Jerold!
