Second Seder
This was the big one. We had the four of us; Millie, Joel, David, Gena, and Jimmy; Ira, Greta, Scott, and Stacey; and Lee and Kristina. That's nuclear family; Arlene's sister, her husband, their son, their daughter, and Gena's husband; Arlene's brother, his wife, Greta's son, and Scott's SO; and Arlene's aunt and her granddaughter. Kristina's parents are divorced and her mother is paying Lee child support for Kristina. I remember Kristina best from several years ago when a tree had fallen across Lee's front yard; I was working with a bucksaw to clean it up, and Kristina was helping haul away the brush.
The crowd just barely fit in our dining room. We had six seats on each long side of the table and two people at one end. We told people they would find out how jigsaw puzzle pieces felt. Lee was the best person to have around in that situation, because she could do the, “when I was a kid I had to sit on an ironing board at seders! And my mother would say, hurry up with the spoon, so I can wash it and let someone else use it” thing.
Ira had brought twenty Maxwell House hagaddahs. We read all the way through the first half of the hagaddah, up to the meal, with much less commentary than the night before (and it took a little effort to bring the crowd to order, too). For a moment it looked as though we would have trouble getting started because Greta had left the special handmade matzo back in her hotel room. We persuaded her that we could go on with the mass-produced matzos just fine.
Arlene had cooked a big brisket and a turkey. The turkey turned out not to be quite ready on time, but there was plenty to eat with the brisket, and the main dish didn't matter so much after the gefilte fish, chopped liver, soup with matzo balls, and two casseroles that Millie had brought.
The table didn't seem to be quite so crowded as I expected. Maybe that was because I was sitting at the end instead of jammed in between people. There weren't any serious complaints, anyway.
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