כל ימי חייך להביא לימות המשיח

We are winding down and up simultaneously for the big night.

Like every year, my head is filled both with the living and the dead. I am looking forward to seeing our guests around the table.

My oldest sister arrived last night laden with treats. Our daughter and son-in-law arrive later today.  My sons and I have been scrambling to do all of the various tasks that need to get done.

At 7:30 there will be a dozen of us at the table waiting for my husband to begin reciting kiddush.

We in our own way have also invited those who are no longer with us to be part of our seder. We will be using the tablecloth my parents purchased in Israel in 1955.  The soup has been cooked according to my father's methods. The matza balls in the soup are done according to the recipe of Bubbie Katz whose namesake just gave birth to a little girl. We will end our meal with Mildred Jacobs' no-gebrochts chocolate cake.

The table will be set and every dish plattered with clouds of parsley and studded with radish roses as we learned from our mother. 

We will cant the Haggadah using my grandfather's nusach. My sister will howl out Va Yhi B'Chatzi ha Layla as our Konin great grandfather did- or at least like our father's imitation of his grandfather.

Wishing all of you a Seder filled with meaning.