Why is this day different from all other days?

We all know that Pesach is when we are supposed to ask the questions. Frankly, I have more than four questions about Purim that I’ve been wondering about for a long while. Please, feel free to enlighten me if you know the answers.

When did everyone’s parents get to take off from work on Purim? (My father only closed his store for Shabbos, Yom Tov, and our weddings—and he wasn’t so relaxed about the latter.)

Whatever happened to the hand-made, hamantasch-shaped paper plates we used as kids for Shalach Manot? And while we’re on the topic, was our re-gifting Shalach Manot (an apple from one plate, a hamantasch from another) a sin?

Why does it always rain (probably snow this year) when we have to deliver Shalach Manot?

When did grownups start to wear costumes on Purim? (Family folklore and a faded photo indicate that my parents once went to a masquerade party when they were dating, but that was it for them.) And when did costumes become so much more than dressing up as Queen Esther, Mordechai, and Haman? (My daughter was Queen Esther every single year no matter how hard we tried to suggest other ideas).

What does one do with all the odd foods in our Shalach Manot basket? (Taco-flavored jelly? Pomegranate crackers? Kasha sucking candy? What were they thinking? )

Does anyone think that school/shul Purim Carnivals are fun? (My husband and
I fought every year. (“You take them.” “No, I’m preparing for the Seudah, you have to take them.”)

And why did they always give out goldfish as prizes? (The poor fish ultimately died every Pesach when we fed them matzo meal.)

How much candy should one hide from our children? From ourselves? From our co-workers?

Who invented the grogger? And who decided that cap guns and firecrackers are more appropriate noisemakers?

Was it only my kid who cried in fright every Purim when she heard the aforementioned noisemakers at the very first mention of Haman? Why did I repeatedly think that she had certainly outgrown her fear and not choose to go to the later minyan by myself?

Why isn’t the Seudah earlier in the day so that you are not starving and stuffing yourself with candy until it begins? (see above)

And most important of all, when did the freilach, festive, fun festival of Purim become the countdown for housewives everywhere to…PESACH? (only four more weeks…eat that candy quickly.)

Just Asking…Enjoy your Chag.

By Estelle Glass