A while ago, I posted about ideas for our Open House Party. Now, I am writing to give a follow-up report. Overall, we had a great time and I feel highly successful to have pulled off such an occasion with the help of my lovely assistant, Vanna-Yonatan ;-)
We invited a lot of people - maybe 60-ish and had about 30-40 people attend. We purposely set the time of our gathering for mid-afternoon (4pm -7pm), so that we could serve appetizers instead of main dishes. Our menu was as follows: fresh bread from the local bakery, Pesto sauce, Olive paste, sliced cheese, all kinds of veggies with fresh cheese sauce, artichoke and spinach dip, fruit cups, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, dates and almonds, guacamole dip, chips, punch, soda and juice. We made almost all the sauces and dips ourselves (store bought Pesto and Olive Paste).
I think we planned the process well, as Yonatan and I did all the shopping over a few days before and did the main cooking on Friday (day before). This way, the only thing left on Saturday to do was chopping, slicing and arranging, which still took several hours.
As the first guests arrived, I started getting nervous. I take this as a good sign because it keeps me humble. I remember when I use to organize retreats, I would get very nervous before the first night even after years of leading. With more and more people coming through our doors, Yonatan and I quickly became good tour guides explaining why and how we designed our apartment. I was happy to see that our friends enjoyed it too. The most special part of the whole evening was the mezuzah hanging. Before we hung the mezuzah, I shared a few words about why this day was special to me and what our (Yonatan and mine) hopes/dreams/prayers were for our home and it's relationship to the greater community. Yonatan translated what I said into Hebrew so that everyone could be involved. It was one of those moments, where I was satisfied with what I said, how I delivered it and how people received it - Home Run Moment! After this mini speech, our rabbi and friend, Moshe hung the mezuzah in our bedroom door frame and said the traditional blessings. We had friends both in our room, around the door frame and in the hallway - truly surrounding us! I loved this moment and felt great joy in knowing that we were fulfilling Torah in that moment. Also, it was very special that my parents gave us the mezuzah, which was in the shape of a tree AND this is important because our last name means "oak" in Hebrew. All very cool!
After the mezuzah hanging, we had some guests leave and new guests arrive. Thus a nice mixing throughout the night. It was almost 8:30pm when the last of our friends left. The first thing we did once everyone was gone was...open presents! Yup, some of our guests gave us very nice and thoughtful presents - totally unexpected! THEN, our dear friend and roommate, Shmuel offered to treat us to ice-cream. What a night! So, we officially ended the night with ice creams and crepes from our favorite little place on the corner. Definitely a "sweat" way to celebrate such a fun, successful and meaningful family event!
Looking forward to the next party...wonder what the occasion may be....? ;-)
We invited a lot of people - maybe 60-ish and had about 30-40 people attend. We purposely set the time of our gathering for mid-afternoon (4pm -7pm), so that we could serve appetizers instead of main dishes. Our menu was as follows: fresh bread from the local bakery, Pesto sauce, Olive paste, sliced cheese, all kinds of veggies with fresh cheese sauce, artichoke and spinach dip, fruit cups, pumpkin chocolate chip bread, dates and almonds, guacamole dip, chips, punch, soda and juice. We made almost all the sauces and dips ourselves (store bought Pesto and Olive Paste).
I think we planned the process well, as Yonatan and I did all the shopping over a few days before and did the main cooking on Friday (day before). This way, the only thing left on Saturday to do was chopping, slicing and arranging, which still took several hours.
As the first guests arrived, I started getting nervous. I take this as a good sign because it keeps me humble. I remember when I use to organize retreats, I would get very nervous before the first night even after years of leading. With more and more people coming through our doors, Yonatan and I quickly became good tour guides explaining why and how we designed our apartment. I was happy to see that our friends enjoyed it too. The most special part of the whole evening was the mezuzah hanging. Before we hung the mezuzah, I shared a few words about why this day was special to me and what our (Yonatan and mine) hopes/dreams/prayers were for our home and it's relationship to the greater community. Yonatan translated what I said into Hebrew so that everyone could be involved. It was one of those moments, where I was satisfied with what I said, how I delivered it and how people received it - Home Run Moment! After this mini speech, our rabbi and friend, Moshe hung the mezuzah in our bedroom door frame and said the traditional blessings. We had friends both in our room, around the door frame and in the hallway - truly surrounding us! I loved this moment and felt great joy in knowing that we were fulfilling Torah in that moment. Also, it was very special that my parents gave us the mezuzah, which was in the shape of a tree AND this is important because our last name means "oak" in Hebrew. All very cool!
After the mezuzah hanging, we had some guests leave and new guests arrive. Thus a nice mixing throughout the night. It was almost 8:30pm when the last of our friends left. The first thing we did once everyone was gone was...open presents! Yup, some of our guests gave us very nice and thoughtful presents - totally unexpected! THEN, our dear friend and roommate, Shmuel offered to treat us to ice-cream. What a night! So, we officially ended the night with ice creams and crepes from our favorite little place on the corner. Definitely a "sweat" way to celebrate such a fun, successful and meaningful family event!
Looking forward to the next party...wonder what the occasion may be....? ;-)
