My family got together last night for Rosh Hashana - like we do for just about any and all holidays. But this one was different.

Last week, my mother (in her and my father's ongoing quest to become bionic) had her knee replaced. This meant that the holiday dinner that was hosted at my parents' house was going to be a bit more "complicated" than usual. But my sister and I stepped up and said that if my mother still wanted to host, we would do everything we could to make it happen.

And, if I do say so myself, we did quite a smashing job.

Mind you, mom cooked and froze food before the surgery. And dad made the chicken soup and matzo balls and gathered the various odds and ends early, too. And these meals are pretty much a big potluck. And we've been doing them for years and years. And most of the family pitches in the day of - regardless of where the dinner is. But there's still setting up and coordination during and cleanup during and after. A three course meal for 20+ people is no walk in the park (no, I can't think of a better turn of phrase, ok??).

But I got to watch my parents actually enjoy a meal. And enjoy their granddaughters. And not run around being in pain. And I got to, in many ways, be the one answering the questions as to when dinner was served, which course, what dishes, what to do with food, where does X go... And I got a small glimpse of what it was going to be like when my mother and her sisters stopped playing hostesses and turn all the holidays over to me, my sister and our cousins.

It was pretty cool. Scary, but cool.

Not only did I not have my traditional panic attack, but I found time to chat and have special moments with virtually my entire family. And I think that everyone had a good time (at least, no one rushed out immediately after dinner). I had a *really* good time.

Dylan was a bit off her game, which was understandable. We put her down for a quick nap before dinner (knowing we'd be out later than her normal bedtime) but it became muuuuch quicker than we even anticipated. Apparantly, if you leave a cell phone in a room with a sleeping baby (oops!) and it has a loud ring, and someone calls... well, the baby wakes up quite unhappy. *sigh* But she came round and beccame her usuall charming self. However, the idea of trying *any* new foods was out of the question. As much as I was looking forward to introducing my daughter to the joys of Jewish comfort food, *her* comfort is more important. So she had a dinner of carrots, Cheerios and Wheat Thins. Hee...

And because we're discussing Dylan and food, I have to throw in a bit about breakfast today. Eric, as many of you know, is quite fond of a vanilla milkshake in the morning. So we went out for breakfast to IHOP where someone had him in mind when they designed the new specials (cinnamon roll french toast). Dylan nibbled a bit on pancakes and then noticed that daddy had something muuuch more interesting (especially after trying to snag my coffee several times). So he gave her a bit of milkshake and had to pry the straw back out of her hands. Turns out that while she may push away cake and brownies in favor of fruit, she's a biiiiiig fan of ice cream. I guess she might be our kid after all. :^)