Having just celebrated our second anniversary (together, B"H), over Shabbat at a close rabbi friend's home, we got to talking about anniversaries and the classic tradition of yearly gifts based on tradition.
For example, the first anniversary is traditionally paper and in the modern world evidently it's clocks, while the second anniversary is cotton in tradition and china in the modern gift-giving world (I got the former, not the latter), and I can't wait for year four when I get a desk set! Oh the romance.
In the midst of the discussion, we decided that there's a great need to develop yearly Jewish anniversary gifts. Here are some of my thoughts.
Let's get going with the First Anniversary:
- Traditional: Classic Cholent
- Modern: Hamin (which is just Sephardi cholent, but it's got lots of dried fruit and stuff in it)
The 10th Anniversary has to be something really beautiful.
- Traditional: Kishke
- Modern: Vegetarian Kishke (come on now, you can't get the real stuff in the U.S.)
I really puzzled over the 25th Anniversary. Here's my thought:
- Traditional: Lokshen Kugel
- Modern: Crustless Pashtida (that's a quiche, sort of)
I'm thinking that the 50th Anniversary should be
- Traditional: Schmaltz Herring
- Modern: Mustard Herring (oo la la!)
Come on, let's have fun with this, folks. What do you think?
Note: Mr. T actually spent nine hours on a hand-made paper cut of Aishes Chayil for me, which, honestly, I have absolutely no words to describe. It has left me utterly speechless.
