With all things Passover pretty much packed up until next year, we’ve been experiencing something of a denouement around here. I’ve been wondering what to blog about….what Jewish thing is going on in our lives now that the ultimate home-shuling holiday has come and gone?
Of course, if we were a little more observant, this problem might have solved itself. Beginning on the night of the second seder, it’s a tradition to beginning counting the Omer, counting down the 49 days until Shavuot. Exciting, right? Seven weeks of waiting until another big festival! Woo-hoo. Except for the fact that I wasn’t quite sure how to drum up a lot of enthusiasm for Shavuot, which doesn’t seem to have much going for it unless you are a really big fan of cheesecake.
So far, we haven’t been counting the Omer, but I figured it wasn’t too late to start (even though technically it is too late to start.) And since we were throwing much of tradition to the wind, why not get a little creative and borrow a custom from the Christian side of the family?
Enter the Omer Advent Calendar:

Each night before bedtime, we are unwrapping a little bag with two gourmet Jelly beans from the leftover Easter bin at CVS. (I chanelled my mom, who used to take us to buy half price Easter bunnies after Passover ended.) To my candy-deprived girls? Pure heaven. Now they are thrilled about the counting, and I have five more weeks to figure out how to make Shavuot just as exciting.
Thanks to Jewschool for the inspiration to make my own, after googling “chocolate omer advent calendar.”