It's almost over!!!!

I love Passover. It is truly my favorite holiday. Since I was young, I loved the different food, the seders, the whole experience of it. I can actually think of the specific times in my life when I've "missed the mark" and ate chametz -- there aren't so many. I remember eating pancakes at a slumber party and a hamburger (why didn't I just skip the bun?) on a trip to California. But I also remember eating matzah-meal rolls at DisneyLand and carrying egg-salad sandwiches to school. I loved the sense of community as I ate almost every meal at Hillel during Pesach in college.

All that said, I am so glad it's almost over!

While the eating of matzah is meant to make us remember our freedom, I think there is nothing that reminds us of our freedom and our incredible opportunities than the taste of bread at the end of Pesach. Deprivation, no matter how short, and frankly, how un-depriving (I really do like the food during Passover!).... still proves how lucky we are to have what we have.

It has been tricky this year with David. He seems to be very particular about what he will and will not eat, so he's eaten a lot of cream cheese on matzah and not much else. Sam has handled it quite well, he pretty much eats what we put in front of him. So often people tell me that their kids just "won't" do it, or they "can't get them" to do it. For us, it's just part of life. We didn't have any bread so there wasn't any to eat! The cereal just wasn't there so we had to eat yogurt without cereal for breakfast. It worked. It is only 7 days. We all survived. I hope David will have great memories of each year, his mom's matzah brie and her other weird creations like Farfel & Cheese Casseroloe (I think it's great! Click here for the recipe. I add extra yogurt and extra cheese.)

Even so, it's almost over. Soon we'll put the Passover cookbooks, cd's, plagues, and haggadot into the Passover box (I need a new one, actually) and they'll go into the basement. The cereal will go back over the fridge and the leftover matzah will go to the food pantry (we always say we'll eat it but we don't). I love when it comes and I love when it leaves!

How do you observe Passover in your house?