Even in this insanity....

Living as we do in a world filled with fear and uncertainty. There is something very comforting about doing our best to get ready for Passover the way we always do. I did fall apart when I realized that our daughter and son in law shouldn't join us this year.


There has been a fair amount of anxiety around procuring not just Passover food but food to eat every day. We have through a variety of means, not by hook and by crook, but more by clever sourcing been able to get most of what we need.

My parents always changed over their house for Passover insanely early. My in-laws used to change over their house at the last possible moment. Early in our marriage my husband and I used to argue about when to change over the house. Since I did all of the cooking we tend to change the house early. If the world were a normal place this year, we would have changed over the house on Sunday. But given that it is not, and given that there will only be four of us physically at the table this year we changed the house over yesterday. It was, as it always is, a big job. We all worked together and we got it done.

The meat dishes are all in their place.

The dairy dishes are where they live for the holiday.

Last night I started the soup.

Ten pounds of chicken bones, carrots, parsnips,turnips onions spices and lots of time and this will  be  wonderful soup.

Today I cooked half of our chickens. These chicken are the linebackers of the chicken yard. As I type this these chickens have all been cut into portion sizes and are in the freezer.

Tonight after dinner we put up beet eggs for Seder.This is a family specific custom of serving pickled beet eggs on our Seder plates. By next week the eggs will be gorgeous.

I am writing about all of this labor done a week early not to boast, but this is what we are doing to stay sane during this time of uncertainty.We may be essentially housebound but we are getting ready for Passover. I can't help but remember accounts I have read of preparing for Passover in the Warsaw ghetto, or in Auschwitz as I prepare for this year. Clearly things aren't as bad. But if people were doing their best to make Seder in the concentration camps, at least we ought to try to do our best.

The work keeps us all feeling that while so many things out there are terrible, at least in our house we can pull together Passover as we always do. My youngest had noticed that on the weekends when he isn't working his anxiety about Corona is worse. We realized as we were washing the dishes tonight that this week has gone quickly because we switched over the house.

Stay healthy.