Best Purim in Years

Yeah, that's exactly what I looked like, but prettier, and with a gold mask painted on...and glasses.

A few weeks ago, I cried my heart out to my friend (let's call her Ms.Useful from now on) about how much I have come to hate Purim in the past few years, since it was the best holiday I had, full of good memories and excitement, and I loved generated more excitement for the kids...until all my fun was co-opted by another (guess who!).  And this year I wouldn't even have the kids at all.

She said that I had to allow myself to learn and grow and enjoy the holidays as my own person, not only through the kids, not just as a Mommy. It was hard to let go of all the expectations, real or imagined, external and internal.  But it was really a great day, and (almost all of it) without the kids.  I did make a costume for the son who requested one, and it came out GREAT , not even considering it was totally last minute, with no pattern, and within one hour (I am quite vain about how well I can sew costumes on the fly).  I did bake some items for shalach manot with the kids.  But I knew that shalach manot were really going to be just mine, and the costume was not going to be a family affair.  I threw myself into preparing, and wrote my own little poem, which was really an after thought for the stuff I had already decided to send.  I happened to be at a friend's house shabbos evening, andasked if she still had the blue wig from a couple years ago: "I have a whole collection I bought at '5 Below'".  And it was the most comfortable costume I have had since the year of the "giant baby".  And even the seudah was really nice - a big family+Sweet Profusion dinner, and I was so happy and comfortable being there, better than it could be at the shul seudah.

I have commented before on how insightful I found the idea of Augustus Something-or-Other (sorry) who proposed, as an alternative to ending your life by suicide, rather, ending your identity by becoming a totally different person.  I don't plan to actually run off to Alaska, but certainly better in every way to let my identity take on a much larger non-mommy role, than to decay in the mommy role until it's not good for anyone...even if some people did see this as selfish or lazy or ugly, which no one but me seems to anyway!

Okay, wanna learn of my amazing mishloach manot? 
Homemade lekvar hamantashen (and pretty! this is one place I make the kids take pride in doing it right!)
Homemade rumballs.
Homemade petit-fours, all butter!! butter cake with real butter cream frosting.
Cafe-au-lait
Panini lightly baked with olive oil and garlic
Cream cheese and lox
Insert:

These butter cakes are made with real butter,

The rum balls really have rum,

Homemade Hamentaschen

Supplied for your noshin’

Are filled with traditional plum.

Sometimes we see a closed shutter

On the window of reality

These treats’ looks reflect

Ingredients you expect

We present them to you guile-free.

The café au lait is quite dairy,

And has a good kick of caffeine,

Both cream cheese and lox

Are of the real stocks

And not texture vegetable protein.

Today we should drink and be merry,

To celebrate Hashem’s hidden plan.

We wear masks that hide

The face that’s inside

To praise He Who knows more than man.

Yet we ask for the day to come quickly

When the Master reveals what is true

That time’s not yet here

Still our aim should be clear:

Wishing a wonderful purim to you!

Minimal packaging, used goody bags left over from last year, but had to get disposable coffe cups.
With all cholov Yisroel ingredient, it was more per package than I normally spend... so I did have to limit to 20.  And really, even that was fine too.