Sukkot starts tonight. We're going to attend a tot sukkot service complete with pre-service pottery painting time, since any excuse to do arts and crafts, sing songs, and eat dinner is a good time in my book. Curious Girl learned a few things about Sukkot in preschool last week, and came home from school on Friday saying that she wanted a sukkah at home. "A teeny tiny sukkah, Mommy!" she told Politica. Then later, "a big one! Becuause I'm big."
I mentioned in my Yom Kippur post that Politica and I have different motives, sometimes, for celebrating holidays. Some people would say that Sukkot is all about building a right world, or celebrating the harvest. Politica's sense of the holiday: a chance to use tools! She gets the Good Egg award for coming up with a sukkah design (modeled very loosely on this one (minus the thatch roof, curtains, and swimming pool!) and then redesigning on the fly three times at Lowe's when the right materials weren't available).
So we spent yesterday building a sukkah. Curious Girl was a great helper (click through to see a few other shots of CG and Politica at work). Towards the end she was dancing in the sukkah, singing a medley of "I've Got a Shabbat Feeling Down in my Toes," "You've Got to Jump In the Sky" (which may be an original creation) and "Hiney Mah Tov" as we assembled the sides. She's a happy child. I have no idea what if any ritual we will do in our sukkah, but it's a happy place.
Now she wants to sleep in the sukkah, but I draw the line there. I think we'll have a few outdoor meals (something she's always angling for no matter the weather). So, a holiday with something for the do-it-yourselfer, the person who likes to be outdoors, and the person who likes to cook. Something for everyone.
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Oh, I'm jealous. We're tool-illiterate around here. No sukkah for us. Maybe some year...
I'm jealous too! We sort of thought about building a sukkah on Sunday, but were too beat after a busy week with relatives visiting. And it was rainy. Hope you have a happy time in yours!
In the ways of three year olds, Curious Girl found the sukkah more fun to build than to use, although it's early yet! We may have some funky feminist sukkah painting party on Friday or Saturday, and it's warmed up a bit here so it'll be fun to eat outdoors. And she took the level to show and tell on Monday, although she was not very clear about what she used it for. I'll let you know.
Hey! While I'll be the first to admit that I like my power tools (perhaps in compensation for the fact that I'm only 5'2"), I put up with the giant hellhole that is Lowe's because my little girl wanted a Sukkah and I was darned if I was going to disappoint her. So let's credit my motivation for celebrating Sukkot to make CG--and Susan--happy. Although it's true that I am doing a little happy dance that I successfully designed and built a Sukkah in the course of an afternoon. With the able assistance of my littlest helper, of course.
That photo is adorable! And a great holiday tradition is born.
How lovely!
Welcome, Liz! (and of course, hi politica!)
Hooray! We've been having great fun in our sukkah. It's not fabulous and free-standing like yours - we took the easy way out and gussied up the overhead trellis on our porch into a sukkah with a bamboo covering on top and hanging decorations. The kiddo first said, "That's not a sukkah, that's our porch!" before the decorations went up, but now he's loving it.
My husband says he'd like to build one next year though, and I'd be very into helping with that, though I am personally tool-illiterate as well. I'm going to print out the plans you linked to. They look great!
Eating and hanging out in the sukkah has been a big hit. I never had one as a kid, and we're really enjoying it. (And as a plus, making paper chains and paintings is good for those small motor skills the teacher wants him to work on.)
This is our first sukkah, Genevieve, so it's been fun for all of us--it's underdecorated as yet, but still quite fun. We took the easy way of positioning it on the deck so we didn't need to build a back side for it.
Once Politica designed it and got the materials, it only took about 2 hrs to put up.
But the most fun is seeing just how happy CG is about it.
We lucked out -- LG got to help decorate a cardboard sukkah on a playdate last week. Paper chains for everyone!
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