Christmas Cocktail in the Holy Land

I must apologize to all of you who checked back on Sunday to see if our Christmas Cocktail Party was a flop...and shame on you for thinking I would let a party flop!  It was awesome!  People were SO happy to have a Christmas event to mark the season and a reason to dress up and time to hang out with friends!  As surprising at it is...there is no Christmas in the Holy Land. At least not as we know it and not in the place where we can go.  Throughout Palestine there are Christmas tree lightings and peace choirs singing - but not here in Israel.  Anyway... enough of that sad story - on to the spectacular Christmas Cocktail!

The duty free alcohol for the party showed up, as predicted, the day after the party.  We ran to a local store and picked up the necessities to make our creative cocktails with festive names like "Father Christmas" (Bourbon, orange, bitters and powdered sugar) and "Holiday Cheer" (A fruity martini). And wow did our friends ever take the cocktail part seriously!  I set out little red and green notecards for everyone to write their cocktail recipe on...and the bar was littered with these cards!  The drinks were delicious, all but 4 of my cookies were eaten, the appetizers brought by friends were devoured! And most of all, people LOVED the Christmas decorations in our house which actually felt (and smelled) like Christmas!

My Christmas piano books were out but I'm too much of a chicken to play for everyone.  Lucky for me, one of the guests is a "trained in classic piano."  She happy browsed through the books and played the favorites while everyone stood around sipping cocktails and singing from the caroling books I'd saved from a Christmas cruise.  The surprising and touching and magical part of this is that my Jewish friends (some of whom have never heard these carols) were singing along! 

Another surprising thing here is the "Happy Holiday" versus "Merry Christmas."  Take the trend towards "Holiday" vs. "Christmas" and add in the complex cultural dynamic of Christians, Muslims and Jews, pair that with the fact that most people don't celebrate Christmas here, and the fact that we work for a politically correct government entity...and you get lots of Happy Holidays.  But not at our party.  All of our friends said Merry Christmas and it really meant a lot to us. 

Our tree and the many ornaments from my childhood were the highlight of the party.  And the make-shift advent wreath and the beautiful stockings I made. (Not really but I was proud of them and I want to put the picture on top!)

In short, it was a fabulous time!  Now that we have done Christmas here, it's time to go back to the States!!!  I probably won't post for the next three weeks (sorry), but we'll be on whirlwind tour of the States (at least the Midwest and the East Coast) and we'll be so busy seeing friends and doing everyday things we probably won't have time to write. (You can't possibly understand how excited I am to drive go grocery shopping.  Driving there without traffic, parking in a free parking lot with large spaces, paying in US dollars!!) 

How the Grinch Stole My Christmas Cocktail Party...

Twas the night before the night before the Vaca Christmas Cocktail party...(I think that is the wrong story...but we're going to go with it)....and all the Young Dips down in tel aviv were preparing for the Christmas party of the year.  "Cocktail Attire, no children please." The cookies were made, decorations on the trees.  The only thing missing for the Cocktail Party was alcohol purchased at duty free.

On Tuesday they called "I'll send it tomorrow," replied the warehouse man who had to approve.  "You'll have it by Friday! Don't you worry, my friend." on Wednesday...and Thursday brought even worse news.


Invitation by Jen: Can I get this published as an eSilver Card?

 The Grinch in the customs dept. surely knew that this holiday request was for more than two.  More than a request for alcohol and food, this order meant an evening of home, holiday and good moods.  It wasn't just the event of the season, it was the event that created the season!  Closer than ever to the true Christmas of ole, the kids in Tel Aviv didn't know that the countdown to Christmas was coming to a close!  Though just a few miles away from Bethlehems manger, no lights and no carols - it couldn't have been stranger.  Now the only event to mark the Christmas miracle, is a Christmas cocktail party - and they aren't going to get us the "Cocktails" in time!!!

Now I watched the Grinch just a few days ago, and I know that Christmas isn't about the ribbons and bows.  So surely it isn't about cocktail drinking, but is there a way to keep my party from sinking?!? I have to save Christmas, not just for me, but for all of my friends who are hoping to see - decorations and lights and holiday cheer,  cookies and candies and hope for the new year..... (Check back on Sunday....)

Tel Aviv sea during storm

Friday at work everyone was talking about "The Storm." It rained for 5 minutes and we thought "Hm...typical."  On Saturday the skies were cloudy (which is odd for us) and in the afternoon it started to get darker.  We would have walked to our friend's apartment by the beach around 7pm had we not been running late - but we were, so we jumped in a cab.  

My picture from same spot in May.

The driver was hesitant to drive down by the water - the obvious route.  We understood why when the sea came into view and the biggest waves I have ever seen were crashing over the stone walls that usually protect the beach.  As we paid the cabby and stepped out of the cab we were hit by much stronger winds than we were feeling 1 mile in from the shore.  Our friends like on the 17th floor with a balcony looking over the water and from there you could see (and feel) that this really was a storm.  

Leaving their apartment that night we were hit immediately by the 60mph winds!  Before bed we brought in our plants, stacked our furniture and closed all of the protective shields on the windows...just in case.

Sunday morning worse.  We unclogged the drains outside a few times to let the water drain down and re-staked our poor little fruit trees that were right at the end of wind tunnel. (Two of them were uprooted and quickly replanted.)  Sunday was consistently rainy and windy and one set of friends opted to not have us drive over to their place by the sea because it was "too dangerous to drive."  We didn't understand.  It wasn't THAT bad by us.  

So we went North to a co-workers for dinner.  The horrific traffic on the way was due to a few downed branches (very small) and blinking traffic lights. (Side note: Israel is one country where blinking yellow lights are not okay as all of the drivers are pushy and impatient - myself included - so we ALL push our way into the center of the intersection and one by one weave through...oh so inefficient!)

Anyway, getting there was bad but doable. The way home...another story.  The wind was blowing the rain almost horizontally and the slight flooding on the highways made the lines invisible (the lines here aren't straight...so you can't guess where your lane is!).  It was only the third time in my life that I have pulled over on the side of the road because the conditions were so bad.  We made it to a circle in the city only to find that part of it we had to go through was flooded.  (I later went to get a picture of this and the water was halfway to my knees!) 

The real surprise was when we got home.  I went straight to the front to check the patio drains which were flooded.  I put on a coat and some flip flops and ran out the side door (the water was up to the front door) to clear the drain.  I pushed away the debris (and nothing happened) and I ran around to the back to clear the other drain.  The water was deeper in back (above my ankles..on our 6th floor balcony!), it was dark and I couldn't find the drain.  Enter the hail.  I am getting pelted with little hail balls, standing in 4 inches of water in my flip flops...and I locked myself out. 

Paul came to the rescue and as I slipped into the house (literally slipping, not sneaking...falling) he ran to the back room to turn on the lights.  "Jen...come look at this!"  Not only was the light not working, but the room was flooded.  Water was coming in from under the door to the patio in the back where I couldn't find the drain.  Begin the frantic soaking-up, wringing out, clearing debris, calling for help, heaving buckets of water off the balcony.

Two hours later (midnight), after the government services guy left, the floor was drying and at least the back drain was working.  This is when I grabbed my camera and ran to get pictures of the flood (which I'll post later).  

The drive to work took an hour the next morning as the roads were flooded and many lights were out.  The beach was...and still is...a mess.

Turkey Day!!

Sorry we didn't post about this sooner.  I know many of you heard our woes of trying to find cranberries in Isreal or buying the organic, free range, kosher, home-delivery bird killed only hours before going on the grill. In the end...HUGE Success!!!

The star of Thanksgiving was the turkey and the cranberry sauce (ehh..both made by the most attravtive chef in I've ever seen!).  We'll save them for the end.

Lets start with us bringing our big plastic picnic table inside and borrowing a full set of dishes from our friends, moving the bookshelf and the couches to make room for an ambitious 16 guests! 

Then, only a few days before, the pot luck thing seemed to be going down the drain when 2 guests replied that they would bring cake.  So we bought massive amounts of mushrooms, potatoes and onions, and pre-made buscuits.  In the end, they all brought more food than we thought and we had TONS!

While I would have loved to have sent my friends home with armloads of turkey and cranberry sauce and stuffing - I couldn't.  The stuffing was pretty much gone (and it is one of my favorites). And the turkey and cranberries...well that was my food budget for a month.  So today, like yesterday and almost every day since then, we've had potatoes and turkey for dinner. (Sweet and sour turkey, turkey pot pie, turkey sandwhiches - I'm not complaining, they are delicious).

We ordered 11 kilos of turkey (a safe bet according to the turkey experts online)(we ended up with a 25lb bird!).  Well, they don't really eat turkeys here so the market (demand and supply) is pretty small.  We couldn't really be picky.  Then on the cranberries.  You know those oceanspray commercials where they are standing in a pond with berries floating around them.  Well this is the desert and we're in a dry spell.  We bought frozen cranberries from Russia by the ounce! 

Paul cut the legs off of the turkey and pushed him down to make him fit on the grill.  After seven hours we had a delicious and juicy bird with a slight grilled flavor!  The cranberries...what can I say...it was almost like being at Aunt Patsy's! 

The whole event was a huge success and everyone very much appreciated us hosting.  Lessons learned:  1. Order less turkey.  2.  Confirm that guests are bringing sides. 3.  The pilgrims and indians ate those foods because they were local - so maybe next year we'll do a "local Thanksgiving" keeping with the spirit of the holiday.  4. Invite lots of friends and eat turkey for a month - it is worth it!

Celebration of Oil

What I knew about Hanukkah before today: "Hanukkah is...the festival of lights;" it is around Christmas; there is a game with a dreidel; they only had enough oil for one day but the candle stayed lit for 8 days.
Today is the second day of Hanukkah and I am in Jerusalem for work. What this means is: I know now infinitely more about Hanukkah than I did three days ago. You see, I am here for work (sans Paul). My two Canadian/Israeli co-workers are here with me and spending all day with them...eating every meal with them for 4 days...you learn a lot!
Tonight we happened to be sitting at an outdoor cafe between the Old City and Zion Square (in a young, popular, Jewish part of town). Just before sunset a couple hundred people can down the street with music and lights on a stick. Apparently they had walked around the Old City and were on their way to the Square to light the manora at sunset. About half of this group was new soldiers (in uniform, with guns). There was a stage and lots of happy Hebrew music which I didn't understand, but my co-worker sang along and said it was all traditional holiday music.

As the sun set a soldier said two prayers (I understood only the word Adoni, Lord) and they lit their second candle. More interesting than this was the 2nd floor balcony of someone's apartment in a very old beautiful building where a young man came out a sunset and lit a two small candles. He went back inside and sat at the dinner table. The dark night made his lit up dining room look like a stage. He sat down to dinner with his family and in the background fireworks began to go off. "One of the rules of Hanukkah is that you have to show your lights." This made infinitely more sense as we walked back to the hotel and saw manora lightings and singing on the sidewalks and balconies.
Apparently, Hanukkah also has a slightly political undertone to it. You see, the rest of the story of the candle that stayed lit for 8 days is this. Jerusalem was occupied by the Greeks and was a secular (like Tel Aviv today). The Macabees (either a rebel group that wanted to restore the right to practice Judaism or a conservative sect that wanted to restore strict Jewish law, depending on your interpretation of it) after a series of battles retook Jerusalem and went about cleaning out all of the pagan symbols and altars - some of which were in the Second Temple. They wanted to work through the night to restore the purity of the temple but only had.....(enter the story you know)...enough oil for one day of work. The oil lasted 8 days.
This is interesting to me because it happened here in Jerusalem. I am here. Though I didn't bring my camera, I hope to go to the Western Wall tomorrow, ie. to the only remaining part of the Second Temple. While I'd love to see them light the third candle - I think work will get in the way of that.
More than the festival of lights, I'm told it is a festival of oil. Most of the foods associated with Hanukkah include lots of oil. And I saw several altar-like manoras on the streets where the candles were actually oil! It was pretty cool.