Succos reflections

amother

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 8:13 pm

How do you feel walking away from yom tov? I feel like superwoman!! It was so hard yet so rewarding. Im trying to walk away being very relieved yet proud of what I accomplished.
Im 28 years old with 2 kids and 8 months pregnant. I hosted company for RH, shabbos chol hamoed and 2nd days succos. I (hope) everyone felt like we really enjoyed having them and that they liked being by us. This was a very new experience for me. I hosted my inlaws who havent gone away for succos in 35+ years. We also hosted a kiruv couple. My emotions over the past month have been everywhere from overwhelmed to grateful and everything between. Im not the best writer and have a hard time expressing myself but even thou there have been days where my legs felt like jelly beneath me and I thought id pass out from exhaustion im still so happy I was able to do this. What an amazing experience. Iyh next year in Yerushalim.
Id love to hear your reflections!

amother

Wheat

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 8:40 pm

I feel like super woman as well. I’m going through a divorce with a husband that is no longer religious. I managed to pull my sled together and provide my children with a beautiful Sukkos and they were all in good spirits .

amother

White

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 8:44 pm

today my dh had a minyan in our house. it was really beautiful. I'm grateful that it worked out.

I'm glad that he was able to do something to make the holiday enjoyable. he really didn't like going to the local shul on simchas torah.

I'm glad that he was able to be arole model to our children that if you aren't happy about something you should do something about it.

I'm glad my kids enjoyed.

My "baby" is super attached to me but was having so much fun at hakafos that she didn't want to leave my dh for me! boy was that was a change!

allthingsblue

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 9:33 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

That is truly amazing. I am so proud of you and happy for you!

To the poster who said her baby who usually clings to her but was happy with dh on simchas torah- the same thing happened to me, it was great!

Overall I feel very grateful to have had a joyous Sukkos. The only thing that would have made me happier is for
ALL of klal Yisroel have experienced that joy, and to have been in EY.

PinkFridge

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 9:38 pm

amother [ Wheat ] wrote:

What an upbeat post in an upbeat thread. May you see tremendous peiros and enjoy peace of mind too.

PinkFridge

Tue, Oct 22 2019, 9:40 pm

amother [ Slateblue ] wrote:

Mostly I feel regretful that I’ve invited many guests for Shabbos Bereishis.
It was a beautiful chag but I worked like a dog and I am so tired.

Hugs.
That you can say the bolded with all you seem to have been doing and will do is pretty impressive.

amother

Ruby

Wed, Oct 23 2019, 9:41 am

It was beautiful. We have nowhere to go and are home alone with the kids every yomtov. (No not BTs, just older parents and in-laws who travel themselves etc).
So we usually focus on making it as nice as possible and on just getting through it. I expected to feel kind of lonely again on sukkos.
But I found that my older kids (around bar mitzva age) are really getting big and the meals aren’t boring anymore and that we reached a stage where Yom Tov is perfectly fine at home!
And I also noticed that many of my friends who used to go to family are also starting to stay home. I’m so happy and grateful to have made it through the harder lonelier younger years and get here!!
(And I made sure not to overwork. I’m the lady from another thread who ordered some food so I don’t need to be in kitchen all day and went instead to Lazer Tag!)
Wishing a good Winter to all of you!! ❄️

amother

Wed, Oct 23 2019, 9:47 am

[quote="amother [ Ruby ]]
But I found that my older kids (around bar mitzva age) are really getting big and the meals aren’t boring anymore and that we reached a stage where Yom Tov is perfectly fine at home!
[/quote]

So nice that youre able to appreciate the stage you reached!

princessleah

Thu, Oct 24 2019, 9:09 am

I made a conscious decision this year to make the focus of my holidays the davening, shul services/teshuva rather than cooking.
Don't get me wrong, there was still cooking, but I only had company for 2 meals over all the chagim, and it really made a palpable difference.
I grew up with a model of women running out of shul on RH as soon as shofar was done so they could prepare lunch. I didn't want to do that, so I didn't. The holidays felt a lot more meaningful to me as a result.

keym

Thu, Oct 24 2019, 9:37 am

princessleah wrote:

That's beautiful.
You're my role model for when I iyh reach that stage.
I made a conscious decision this year also that shul going was high priority for all old enough to want to go.
Practically that meant that my teenage kids spent most of the month in shul. I spent as little as possible in the kitchen because I was caring for my preschooler and toddler.
I noticed that too many of my daughter's friends spend so much of the yomim tovim caring for their siblings so their mother's can churn out elaborate meals.
Im not judging. Each family does them.
But I wanted my kids to spend as much time as they were capable of in shul.

amother

Powderblue

Thu, Oct 24 2019, 10:30 pm

princessleah wrote:

I go to a Sunday AM shiur and we had shiur erev RH. It was great!
As the woman who gives the shiur said, Hello, freezers!

amother

Pearl

Thu, Oct 24 2019, 11:53 pm

We are making a simcha this week. We were invited to relatives and friends for many RH meals and all of sukkot meals.
Some invitations we accepted, others declined.
And there was still plenty of non stop cooking.
But I walked away from this season truly humbled and grateful for our caring family (very small family but came through big time) and loving friends.