In 5764/2004 Yoni, Tehilla, and Devorah made another hometel. They wanted to make it on the parents' anniversary, but David suggested that they postpone it about a month to Shabbat Hagadol, right before Pesach. That would make the preparations more welcome. It would obviate the need to cook and clean chametzdik food right before Pesach.
Tehilla and Devorah spent a considerable part of the week preparing and planning the event, even though Devorah was suffering from a heavy cold that week. On Thursday they went out to buy the prepared food, and on Friday they handled the last-minute preparations.
David always prepares a discussion list before Shabbat. We spend our lengthy meals talking about many important topics.
This year, the girls prepared a discussion list of their own. It was formatted just like their father's, with two columns, topics for discussion (they made fun of the discussions that Father has). It also featured David's other issues - some news items, some correspondence that they wanted to share, and some Parsha questions (they made funny questions instead of the downloaded ones that David uses).
Yoni, Tehilla, and Devorah placed an anniversary advertisement in a local newspaper, Makor Rishon. We don't usually buy that newspaper, but we did get it that week. It was lovely. Unfortunately, the newspaper was lost before we could scan the advertisement into this website.
We had a full set of three delicious meals, with far more than we could ever eat. It was served on quality disposable dishes, to make the cleanup process easier. Yoni brought home a nice fudge cake from Brooklyn Bakery, where he works, and the girls set out pita instead of challah, so that there would not be crumbs. Of course, the cake did make crumbs, but they don't make tasty cake from pita dough.
Friday night they used one set of matching tablecloth and plates, and they switched it in the morning to a different set.
Tehilla and Devorah prepared and laminated fancy labels and signs for each room. They had name tags (since they were the staff), and fancy signs: Dining hall, Lobby (our foyer), Lounge (that's the living room), Sleeping quarters (the bedrooms, of course), Staff (on the room for Tehilla and Devorah), Men and Women on the two bathroom doors, and 608 (our building number, but also our Suite number) on Yoni's door and the master bedroom, and HOmeTEL (so that the word "hotel" was in capital letters) on the front door.
It was lovely, and very much appreciated.
Find out more about our HomeTel
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