Shake shake shake your lulav...

The frenzy before sukkot continues.  Actually,  there isn't much of a frenzy, for a few reasons.  First  our sukkah was delivered to our house last week.  So even though I was a little nervous to wait until the last minute  I'm told that last week isn't last minute here in Israel.  So it got delivered one night last week around midnight.  Then  someone on our block was selling lulav and etrog,  which he also brought to our house.  Then  someone else was selling decorations,  which my child rode his bike to pick up.  Normally,  in America,  we always head down to the lower east side to buy a lulav and etrog and of course to get pickles.  But that usually takes half a day when I  need to be cooking.  So this is very relaxing.

Also where else can you go where your bank's website wishes you a Happy Sukkot,  and your coffee comes with special chocolates for the New Year??? I wonder how many years it will take until this no longer thrills me.  I hope that never happens.

Oh and also,  only 1 day of Yom Tov!!  So half the cooking.  Couple that with an invitation for lunch and we are in business people!

One awesome thing so far is how many sukkot there are.  Basically every single house has one.  Anywhere where you see a backyard  a garden or a balcony without a roof  you see a sukkah.  It's super cool to see them staggered along apartment buildings.  We usually used to set ours up in our driveway in NJ.  We were pretty much the only visible sukkah if you drive through the neighborhood,  even though others were scattered about in yards.  It's nice to be part of the crowd.

Remember that I mentioned that we were in the newspaper again?  Well  my neighbors gave me a few copies and we read the story.  Which I am very happy to say I understood most of,  with Jon helping me along.  Of course  context was super helpful, but whatever.  I even love how he told them that we are the same age even though I am currently older,  until he catches up in a few months.  Isn't he the best?  The kids were very excited to be in the newspaper again.  Perhaps they will do a follow up about our first Simchat Torah in Israel,  then our first Chanukah,  first Tu B'Shvat,  etc... : -)

Moving on.  Here is what your sukkah looks like when you sell your giant sukkah and buy a really small one.  Except you have the same number of decorations,  plus the ones you just bought from yours friends kid.

Well,  time to wrap it up because it is almost sukkot here in Israel.  Chag Sameach to all.
חג שמח