And to add to all this, I have been feeling very neglectful these past few weeks about my lack of crafting with my two year old. She has been very good about it, but the other day she did ask when we were going to do another project - "Can we at least glue something, mommy?" and I knew that I had gone too long without, at the very least, cutting and pasting.
So we sat down and we cut and we pasted. And we came out with a pretty cute and very very easy Purim craft. We made hamentaschen (a three-cornered pastry traditionally made for Purim) out of colored paper and we hung them on the mantle. And my girls were so excited with them. My two year old, in particular, keeps walking up to the mantle, pointing and smiling and saying, "We made that! But what are those called again, mommy?"
Draw a triangle on a piece of brown construction paper. The points of the triangle should be somewhat rounded. We made five hamentaschen, so we did this five times. Then we drew a much smaller, rounded triangle on pink and purple construction paper, cut it out and glued it in the center of the big triangle. Any color will work, as long as you can think of a jelly flavor to go with the color, as these pastries are generally filled with jelly, although they can be made with poppy seeds or chocolate chips, or any melty candy.
A digression here, but last year we were lucky enough to receive yummy hamentaschen filled with peanut butter cups. I love peanut butter cups. How much do I love them? I'll tell you. Those hamentaschen were gone in a second - I am not even sure I showed those to anyone else in the house, straight into my mouth they went. And just to illustrate how insane that is, last Purim was a week or so after baby #4 arrived and I had had a c-section and I picked up bronchial pneumonia in the hospital and was so sick when Purim rolled around that I spent the morning crying in the doctor's office. And yet, I found the time to shove peanut butter cups into my mouth. So yeah, I loove peanut butter cups. So if anyone wants to send some of those babies my way, I am here waiting.
So we cut, we glued and we taped to the mantle. I feel a little better now, but only slightly. At least the house is starting to look like Purim is coming, even if nothing else is getting done. Baby steps, baby steps.
*Purim is probably the most fun of all the Jewish holidays. The story of Purim, which is told in The Book of Esther or Megillat Esther, celebrates the Jewish victory over oppression and deliverance from the evil Haman. The story takes place in the city of Shushan during the reign of King Achashverosh in the Persian Empire. Today, Purim is commemorated by listening to the megillah, giving charity and giving gifts of food to family, friends and neighbors. It is customary for both children and adults to dress up in costumes, especially those featuring the characters in the Purim story, such as Queen Esther, Mordechai, King Achashverosh and Haman.