Holiday Musings and Thanksgiving in Sharon

I get together with my family a couple of times of year, this last year it was Passover, 4th of July, Rosh Hashanah and now Thanksgiving ... and we will be getting together for Winterfest - a name of my own devising, it will be something like a combination of late Hanukkah and winter birthdays. During each of these holidays, we all stay together under one roof, be it in Cherry Hill, NJ, Sharon, MA or, now that we have a house, Eastchester, NY.

Its nice ... really, really, really nice. I can't say that I ever imagined I would like my family so much that I would want to spend this much time together ... but I gotta say, its pretty great. I mean, I can't say it is all stress free, but I can say that the stress is absolutely worth it.

Especially now that the cousins are all growing up, seeing them all play together is truly a magical thing. Thanksgiving, which we spent at Josh and Debbie's in Sharon, MA, was the first holiday we have been to since Soren was born where it really felt like he was old enough to interact with his cousins. Even though not everyone was there - Rachel, Larry, Dylan, Joey and Eli stayed in Philly and Marley is away at college - Soren had an absolute blast playing with Samara and Tal.

Then when we got back, we took Soren to see the annual train show at the NY Botanical Garden in the Bronx with our friend Jen. Nathan is Soren's best friend and their interaction is so fantastic I do not have the adjectives, but believe me they are awesome together. 

Overall the holiday was great, and it was quieter and less chaotic than other have been, those not with us were definitely missed.

This was also the first holiday in a long time that I forgot my camera, but fortunately iPhones have excellent cameras ... here are a couple of the pictures and videos from Thanksgiving. I would have you all know that other things happened at this holiday aside from Soren playing with his cousins, Aviva and myself ... but frankly adults are so much less interesting to photograph ...

At the amazing childrens museum in Easton 

On a walk with Aviva and I, attempting to appreciate the tiny amount of snow

 With Tal and Samara

 Soren and Tal playing together.

 With his best friend Nathan at the train show at the San Diego Zoo on the Sunday after we got back.

The Rosh - 2013

        Its been a couple of weeks, but we were on vacation and having a kid is time consuming ... so I am a tad late here. But anyway, on September 4th, pretty early this year, Soren, Aviva and I headed south to Cherry Hill to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with the Buchmans. This year bucked tradition a little, as the first night was at Rachel and Larry's place in south Philly, and then the second night was at Bucky and Tanya's, and both nights turned out very well, as did the rest of the weekend. As usual, both nights of the holiday, and the rest of the weekend, were frenetic, crazy experiences with too many people in too small a space ... and as usual we all really loved it, despite the exhaustion. Thats really what family is about ...

We retook our family photo from Pesach, and it came out fantastic (you can see it above - thanks Sarah & Steve Langdon). Aviva and I took advantage of getting dressed up to take some closeups of Soren as well. We took walks, did tashlich with Bucky's carp, ate incredibly well and mightily, and saw a bunch of friends. Overall a great holiday, although it was a lot more tiring than it has been in the past, as there are so many kids (six) the whole time is kind of taken up watching, playing with and laughing at the kids. Below are some of the pictures

One the first night at Rachel & Larry's, Pappa got some quality time with his great-grandchildren,

Samara and Joey (aka trouble twins), did not get into so much trouble ...

... but still had a blast together. 

Eli happily shared lots of his toys with Soren ...

... and Dylan taught Tal the ways of the force.

 

 Meanwhile, the adults milled around and ate ... we are boring.

 

 Back at Tanya and Bucky's, Tal learned about telephony ...

while the other kids played on the cushion pile they made on the living room floor ...

Dinner on the second night, as always, was turkey and it was delicious ... although I will say I missed the brisket this year ...

... Soren put on a fancy outfit for the holiday ...

.... Gerry, as usual, was key ...

... and since dinner had 26 people, we got to hang out with tons of extended family, which is always wonderful.

The next day pappa came over for the day ...

... and in the afternoon, Lilliana stopped by for a visit and we all did Tashlich wit Bucky's carp.

It was especially exhausting for some of us.

As I said, one of the best things about getting together is seeing all the kids play and 

enjoy each other ...

... and seeing everyone else get to spend time with Soren and all the other kids, is really special.

But the highlight of the weekend, at least this time, was baby bath time, when Soren, Tal and Eli all took a long bath together and had a blast.

And that is that. Bye bye now.