Good thing we bought lots of beds

We had a packed house for the first part of yom tov:

• Our family (6)
• Shira's oldest brother, Danny and his family (4)
• Shira's brother right under her, Avi and his family (3)
• Shira's youngest brother, Eli
• Shira's mother
• Shira's first cousin, Malki

A total of 16 people. We had just enough mattresses and plenty of room for everyone. We had even more space since three of us slept in the sukka. Eating was another story. We had two options of where to put the sukka. One was extremely easy since three walls were already up as part of the house and my brother-in-law, Erick from Nof Ayalon had lent us the base that fit perfectly in that space. The problem was that the area was pretty small, 2 meters by 3 meters (about 6x9 feet). The other space was much bigger but would have been more money and more effort. We chose the easier option. Somehow for the meal at night we managed to squish everyone into the sukka and during the day some of the women ate inside.

It was only two meals and then Friday everyone did their own thing. We went to Yerushalayim to go the kotel and made it out just before the police closed many of the roads for Rav Shapira's funeral. We also stopped by to see Malka and David who were visiting in Yerushalayim for yom tov. We missed their wedding so Shira was very excited to see them as a married couple. It was a very short day though as we had to come home and get ready for Shabbos. Friday night was the same crowd, besides Eli but Shabbos lunch was quiet since Danny and Avi both ate at friends' houses with their families.