Zippori National Park

On Thursday, I took Stephanie and her mom, Debbie, to the Lower Galilee to visit the ancient town of Zippori....now a beautifully preserved archeological site. They were wanting to gather some information and do a little research for Steph's sister who is writing a paper on the Jews that inhabited Zippori when it was occupied by the Romans. The drive there was so beautiful. I love all the agriculture in the North and love the rolling hills and just being out of the city. The view from the citadel in Zippori was so lovely. "Why is it called Zippori? Because it is perched on top of the mountain like a bird" (Babylonian Talmud, Megillah, 6a) Zippori was one spot where the Jews decided not to resist the occupying forces and submit to the rule the Romans, lively peacefully among them. There were numerous well preserved mosaics that I really appreciated and wished my artist Grandmother could have seen with me! The very first excavations took place in 1931 but they just recently (1994) uncovered the only remaining synagogue on the site. I always find it so amazing that much of the history in this Land is just now being uncovered. Makes you wonder what else lies beneath! I'm too tired tonight to give a full recap, so if you're curious... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zippori

I will say that I learned an important lesson, two year olds are not much fun at archeological sites! He wanted to run and climb everywhere that was "prohibited" and there was no time to read any marques or take the pictures I wanted! I did get a few that I'll add to my facebook page. Anyway, it was a special treat to go on such an interesting icursion. I wish that gas wasn't so expensive here ($6.50/gal) so that we could do A LOT more exploring!!! There is sooooo much to see and everything is so interesting.

Thursday night I decided to clean up the apt and get out Christmas decorations. I was so excited to decorate and put on Christmas music I streamed online and Christmas pjs and Santa hats....thinking Ethan would join in the merriment. Wrong. He liked unwrapping the ornaments for the miniature trees but then hated the arrangement of everything else. He was fussy and cranky the whole evening. I finally decided that he just hated Christmas. We took a break and dropped in at Steph's. She declared that Ethan was just Jewish at heart! But, when we got home, David arrived from a long day at school and Ethan was DELIGHTED to show him the trees and decorations. Next morning, he wanted the lights turned on first thing! There is hope after all.

There is so little to remind us of Christmas here. I get "December homesickness," wishing for time with our families and for Ethan to enjoy all the fun traditions we grew up with. I bought him an advent Calendar thinking it would be great since he loves "lift-the-flap" books. I had no idea that under each flap was a piece of chocolate. I'm pretty sure Ethan is allergic to something in chocolate because he gets a rash around his mouth whenever he eats too much. Needless to say, the Advent Calendar is now appearing in the form of little red bumps around his mouth!