The rain is interfering with me getting my leaves off my lawn, since they don’t blow nicely. I am sick of rain. In Southeastern Pennsylvania, it’s been a very wet fall. Today I attended a Bris Milah for my friend Jason’s newly born son. For those of you who don’t know what a Bris is, it’s essentially ritual penis choppery, followed by singing in Hebrew, then eating many varieties of smoked fish, and sweet things. Those of us born in the 70s and who weren’t Jewish only got the choppery, and no food. Clearly we were gypped.
Before the Bris, Bitter and I went to Babies R’ Us to find age appropriate toys. Disappointed that they didn’t have “Baby’s First Submachine Gun Upper,” which would have been fun for the whole family, we decided to get a few newborn baby things, and a giant stuffed alien that is larger than the baby. If he grows up to believe he was once abducted, it will be my fault. But I couldn’t pass up a stuffed alien. I just had a rabbit and a dog as a kid. Toy designers are much more imaginative these days. Speaking of crap that I wish they had when I was a kid, I can’t figure out whether I would have thought this was the coolest toy ever, or would have been scared to death of it. If they end up making a model that will walk, I might have to think about kids just so I can buy one.
I bought my kids a huge stuffed monster when they were little. Being able to manhandle their very own big bad monster took away most of the ‘under the bed’ fears. After all, they beat up monsters every day!
S.E. PA…. We need to have our own blog meet. Maybe someplace in Chester County, then we can talk Cranky into coming too. Or Lancaster County, then I won’t have to drive so far (g).
I live in NY and I’m down in Pa – Eagleville, Norristown, Phoenixville – a lot. If you have a blog meet, can I come, even though I don’t have my own blog yet?
They have it at Costco, too…
Oops, they have that dinosaur thing at Costco. The eyelids are strangely realistic. It’s friggin HUGE!
Pass on a “Mazel Tov” to your friend. Oddly enough, my brother’s Bris is one of the few memories I have of being 4 1/2 – the party, the crowd, not any medical procedures.
But, the party and crowd you experienced is how most – but not all – of the Jewish holidays and life events are celebrated. Passover: they tried to kill us, they failed, lets eat, but only unleavened things. Purim: they tried to kill us, they failed, lets eat, and get drunk. Hannukah: they tried to kill us, they failed, lets eat and convince the non-Jews we actually have fun playing with a top. Er, did I type that out loud?
When someone passes away, we get together, and eat. But we don’t call it a party. (Explaining that one is rather hard, as you can imagine).
Actually, my non-Jewish former co-worker had great fun playing with a top when he competed in (and won!) the national dreidel competition a couple of years ago.