Timothy

  Nicole

  Samantha

  Stephanie

  Victor

  Grand/Godparents

Holiday Open House

Over the past couple of months he have had about 150 people pass through our doors. The last event we had was our Holiday Open House. Because of the number of people expected to attend, we decided to have staggered start times so that we wouldn't have too many people in the house at once. The piano player was great, however, since he was Israeli, he didn't know any Christmas Carols. That's ok because we all enjoyed singing acapella. Unfortunately, there was a rare but incredible rain storm that night so about 30 of our guests from the north of Israel could not make it....more eggnog for Samantha and Nicole! Here's our holiday toasts for the night.:

To all our friends in AMAI
The loud ones, the bold ones, the quiet ones, the shy
You've traveled through wind, rain, and cold to our home
For this year we wish much peace, In Hebrew, Shalom!
L'chaim

Second Toast
Hail to you, the gangs all here
Stephanie and I wish you some holiday cheer
We thank all of you
For your friendship is true
Best of luck for another wonderful year
L'chaim

Chanukkah - Eight Crazy Nights

Well actually, six crazy nights for us. The time of year is always a fun one for the kids. By the end of Chanukkah, we had nine Chanukiah (Menora's)! Needless to say after a week of Gelt (Chocolat coins), Soofganiot (Donuts), and Latka's (Deep fried Potato Pancakes), our faces were breaking out and out clothes were a little tight! This holiday was particularly nice this year as all the local Israeli's helped us sing and learn the prayers!

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving marked the return of Vic's famous smoked turkey. We had smoked two for Thanksgiving and two for the Holiday Open house. Vic was very popular with the butcher at the local grocery store this year!

Fortunately, we had a professional bird carver at dinner this year. Thanks Ronen!

And of course there were leftovers, but the Turkey lasted less than a week.

Halloween

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh My! Actually, this year we had Samantha Jasmine, Nicole Boo! (from Monsters Inc.) and Timothy (Tigger) the Tiger.