Passover

Last night my family got together and celebrated Passover - both Laila and my husband's first Passover ever. I bought this adorable white dress from baby gap for just the occasion, and I myself managed to fit into a pair of my old dress pants. While there, Laila met her Aunt Elizabeth and her daughters Rachel and Rebekah for the first time, along with Aunt Elizabeth's boyfriend Tom. There was some drunken singing, and at one point my dad played tug-of-war with my cousins' dog ... with the toy in his own mouth! So, overall, it was a lot of fun. It's actually hard to tell when my family members are drunk because they are all so weird to begin with. My Grandpa was wearing a jacket with a hoodie all evening that caused my father to refer to him as MC Narcotics (he is a psychiatrist specializing is addiction to narcotics), causing his wife to call herself my Grandpa's bitch. Yea, like I said, we're a weird group of people. But isn't that the best? Better weird than normal, cold, and boring.

Passover is one of my favorite holidays. I'm more of a secular Jew, I have my beliefs but they don't necessarily align with Judaism and I definitely don't celebrate the sabbath or go to temple (unless you count what I do at work, but that's the children's service and it's part of my job)... despite this I still love Passover and the familiarity it brings. It's sort of like Thanksgiving, but the food is different and there's the comfort of the familiar reading of the Haggadah. Plus, I like celebrating freedom, especially when the history of the Jewish people is filled with stories of slavery and genocide.

ANYWAY! There are, of course, a ton of pictures. My step-grandmother Annie took a bunch of pictures that I can't wait to see, and I took some pictures myself. Here are some of my favorites:

Laila looking like she just realized something amazing

Laila meeting her cousin Rachel

Laila in Rebekah's lap while Aunt Elizabeth and Rachel look on

Aunt Elizabeth holding Laila while Rachel touches her head 

Laila and Enzio (Dad) wearing Yarmulkes

My husband holding Laila at the table, reading the Haggadah, and me

Just by luck I caught his picture of Laila laughing!  It was the first time  I heard a recognizable giggle from her. My husband says it is not the first time she laughed, but I'm counting it as the first time anyway since it is the first time I heard it!

And my father, playing tug-of-war with the dog