My little sister, Anna's Bat Mitzvah was wonderful. the "Adam and Eve" theme was so creative and even I had a great time.

The party was on Saturday afternoon Community Center. No expense had been spared in transforming the main hall into a tropical paradise. Artificial trees hid the walls, vines
decorated the doorways and hung from the ceiling. An artificial tree stood in the center of the dance floor with real apples hanging from the branches! The giant, plush toy snake coiled up in the tree, looked too cute to frighten any potential apple-stealers.

At first, I wasn't sure how well Israeli band would go over with the kids, but they really liked it. Traditional music went best with the Garden of Eden theme anyway.

When all the adults had arrived, it was time for the Bat Mitzvah girl, Anna's Grand Entrance. wearing She was wearing a flesh colored leotard and a short skirt that looked like it was made of leaves. She was carried in on a golden divan by four waiters. She plucked an apple off of the tree and took a bite as they set her down on the dance floor. Wow, she got the royal treatment!

Everyone took their seats and grandpa Abe performed the Hamotze. I don't remember the joke he told what the snake said to Adam before Eve took the apple and its just as well.

While the grown-ups ate salad and drank Sebastiani wine, the kids munched on pizza, corn dogs, cheese puffs with passion fruit tea or soda. The kids also had chocolate chip cookies, doughnuts, candy apples and gummi snakes. The kids buffet table was covered with animal print cloth and partially hidden by yards of artificial vines.

One of the band members acted as DJ. He played dance music with jungle themes, like the 80s one hit wonder, "Tarzan's Boy" by Baltimora. The kids played Red Rover and Anna was the last one to be called over. She broke through the line and won the game. I was impressed and told her she should try out for football. Red Rover was always my favorite children's game, but I always pretended to be weaker than I was so I could be caught by my current crush.

During the main course, the kids were still going strong on the dance floor. LLots of the older guests couldn't wait for dinner to conclude so we could join them on the dance floor. When everyone had finished eating, we all toasted Anna's entrance into adulthood. Anna thanked everyone for coming and then the Candle Lighting ceremony was performed. I had been picked by Anna to participate. Thirteen vanilla scented rose floating candles floated in a glass bowl of blue tinted water. Each person recited a famous inspirational quote after lighting a candle. Mine was, "Stick to the one who can see the truth of your soul." I don't know whose quote it was, but after I first saw it the quote stuck in my mind.

When the ceremony was over we all began dancing to the Israeli band's music again! Anna told us to grab apples off the tree. I noticed they all were wrapped in cellophane and hung by lolly pop sticks. They were candy apples! Everyone danced until after midnight, when the parents of Anna's friends began arriving.

Anna's Bat Mitzvah was a blast. It was a great party and everyone had a great time.