Photoessay #650 - Preparation time

Busy day here and all of my family is exhausted. Tomorrow evening is my sister's bat mitzvah. It's not a guest thing. My sister estimates that under 20 people come to a Friday night service. There's maybe 10 people coming special, maybe not that many. This isn't my sister's town, she left maybe 20 years ago. She's doing it here so my mom could come. The result of a conversation last summer where I convinced her to have her own day. In some ways, it's not her temple but it's my mom's temple "member in good standing" she said with emphasis this afternoon. When you belong to a temple, that means that you can have your child bar or bat mitzvah there; work with the rabbi etc. Doesn't matter if your child is 49.

One characteristic of my family is everybody wants to order everybody else around. Myself included. So today, my sister did her final run through with the rabbi, got some logistical instructions about the service and what we were supposed to do. After lunch we went over to the temple to figure out the table setup. Found that the social hall was totally set up for something else. We have to change it ourselves, if we want. Pam, Charlie and Teresa will do that tomorrow. Then I went to buy the materials for the fruit plate and the punch. My mom looked closely at the candlesticks on the bima plus the kiddish cup, they really needed cleaning. So we took those home and my brother and sister worked on them. We did a runthrough and it turns out that my mom is supposed to make a speech. If she wants. And she does want to. So much to do about getting her up the five steps to the bima.

We made dinner (TOO much carbs) and my brother got out his beautiful stained glass piece he made for my sister. It has three hidden mogen david stars in it. I'll post it. Then my mom sat with me at the computer. And we wrote her speech. Really, she did it, she knew what she wanted to say. I wrote it down, screwed around with the grammar. We all reviewed it and read it aloud. Printed it out.

Now everybody is pooped out. Tomorrow morning we have to make some cookies and prepare the fruit plate. Then Charlie, Pam and Teresa go and work on the social hall. Meanwhile I go get the cake and the flowers. We hope mom stays home with the cats. Then we have to get dressed in the afternoon and be at the Tobacks for a special dinner at 5pm. Charlie has to go get Stern and bring him to the dinner.

It will all work out, really it will.