Eidfest 2010 - Part I

Hey! I'm back! Did you miss me? Didja didja didja?

Do you want to know what excuse I had for being away for so long? Of course you do.

My official excuse was that it was Eid, so I got to take two days off from this here bloggy thang to celebrate with the family. But that third day - yesterday - well, I needed that for recovery purposes. Celebratin' is hard work, y'all!!! Especially if you are easily overwrought (read: anal) like me.

Anyway.  Do you want to see what Eid is like at our house? Of course you do.

Here goes!

First and foremost and most importantly, I got a brand spankin' new apron with which to spread Eid cheer amongst the masses. I might have been more than a little obsessed with it, as is evidenced by this photo:

 

(See that look in my eye? It's called Crazy Hostess Syndrome. Approach with caution.) 

But you know what? I think the apron really does have magical hostess powers, because look at all the amazing food I was able to make while wearing it:

Chocolate Cake - Icing and sprinkles courtesy of Inara

 

Moose Track Pie (almost as good as my friend Suzi's)

Sheer Korma - a traditional South Asian dessert served on Eid and made with 

milk, dates, vermicelli and TONS of sugar. Delish!

Eggplants in North-South Sauce 

(I found the recipe here and couldn't wait to try it - it was a huge success!)

I also made a batch of my Channa Masala, and then my mom took over the meat portions of our meal. In the end this was our spread:

And that's not including the desserts, appetizers and snacks. I'm still full just thinking about it!

But enough about the food (even though I could go on about food all day - you know me!), there is so much more yet to share!

We always love having visitors for Eid, and this year my brother, his wife and my little baby nephew made the trek to come and stay with us as well. It was Baby Ameer's first Eid with our family and we were all looking forward to spending time with him. The last time I saw him he was just days old, so I was very eager to get my hands all over his cute baby self.  Now I might be a little biased, but I really don't think there is a cuter baby boy to be found than my little prince. The kid is a lady charmer for sure! And he was so expressive for a three month old - just lookie:

ooooh...psychedelic apron, Auntie Mahreen!

I could have just eaten him right up. And I think I might just be his most favorite aunt ever in the history of the universe, because Ameer felt very comfortable with me:

Auntie Em - I love you. In fact, I love you so much that I shall now pinch a dooce on your lap. 

Just call me the poopie whisperer. 

Here is us early (too early, as you can tell by my black eyes. There wasn't enough concealer in the world to cover up that much tired) on Eid morning. Basically we were all woken up by children bouncing around, and then we all came down and all the kids climbed all over me. And I loved it.

After that, the kids opened up a few presents. Not all families do presents, but in our family it's become something of a tradition to give the kids gifts. It's usually customary to give out envelopes of money (which my mom still gives to all her grown-up kids), but we thought it would be neat for the kids to open up some small gifts (super fun!) instead of saving up for their education fund (booo-ring!).

I also want my girls to get used to giving - we set aside some of our own toys to donate, which I felt made more of an impact on them than putting money in a jar, and the girls also had great fun picking out presents for Baby Ameer:

 (Introducing Ameer to the joys of Sandra Boynton!)

This set cracks me up:

 How curious...

 ...this shirt doesn't seem to fit quite right...

...oh, I see. It's for my kid. Sniffle.

The kids couldn't wait to start enjoying their gifts...

 We love our little bookworms!

Thank goodness for Color Wonder!

I feel like my family is especially blessed because Yousuf's family celebrates Christmas, so my girls get two really big holidays where they get showered with love by their relatives. Every year, Yousuf and I try to show our girls that both sides of the family and their traditions are equally valued, and I think that our hard work is paying off. Inara and Nissa get just as excited about Eid as they do about Christmas, and as they get older I would love for them to foster the feeling of excitement that comes from kindness and giving- especially when they encounter people of different faiths.

For us, nurturing that sense of open-heartedness starts here at home, with our family. Which is really what Eid is all about for me.

Oh, and for the record - I did end up putting on some concealer after all.  Eid Mubarak from The Georges!