Purim

As much as I would've liked to stitch together costumes for Purim resembling Kings and Queens of Bible times, I did not. Like most of my great ideas for events like this, I waited until three o'clock the day of the party and then said, "What'r you guys gonna wear tonight?" Obviously I have a creative bunch of children that are willing and able to participate in any sort of celebration full throttle. The girls wore their poodle skirts and scarves and t-shirts with butterflies on them, Leila wore a *fancy dress*, Tre wore his karate suit with a greet towel tied to his head with black yarn, and Micah chose not to dress up but to stick with the old faithful Conquistadors football jersey.
Even though we didn't much resemble Bible characters, except for the karate/shepherd, everyone but Micah went up for the costume contest. Kennedy was sincerely surprised that she didn't win the costume with her kimono wrap and poodle skirt with full slip. I told her the judges must've been biased toward the costumes that were shipped in from Israel. Crazy judges!
The skit was wildly entertaining considering the children's pastor passed out noisemakers for all the children to use to boo Haman. Unfortunately the kids went overboard and managed to botch every punchline in the entire skit. But it was fun.
Their costumes were a little more traditional, giving me some clarity for next year. We had a great time all around. I was essentially a Halloween party without the devil's holiday part- the focus was completely on the story of Esther. They had carnival games set up all over the sanctuary for the kids after the potluck and the play, and everyone went away with a paper bag full of candy.
In my experience, *potluck* in California means take-out and salad. Even when we came for the Christmas cookie potluck well three-quarters of the table was covered with plastic containers from the grocery store. My friend was shocked that I brought something homemade. It was just puppy chow, for Pete's sake; which, by the way, they call Nutty Buddies here and people go CRAZY over it! ... so funny. Like I said about the costumes, I was a little consumed with chatting on the telephone the day of the party and at four o'clock realized that I didn't make anything for the potluck. I had made a dessert, but the S's were supposed to bring a dessert AND a main dish. I scoured the cabinets in a panic until my mom said, "Take macaroni and cheese!" I did have some pasta and some cheese, so I whipped it together using a recipe I saw on Drive-Ins Diners and Dives and it turned out perfect. It was just macaroni, but I couldn't bear the thought of adding another bucket of chicken to the table.

Life just ain't the same out here... but we're learning to deal. xoxo