What a great resolution! What a great plan! And what a great year it was going to be!

Succos vacation!

Rikki sniffed the air. Even from her bedroom she could smell it: a glorious mixture of chicken soup and meats and stir-fried vegetables and yummy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cake. Ima must have been up even earlier than usual.

And Abba? Rikki hopped to the window and looked out. Just last night, after the long fast, Abba had started putting up the succah boards in their special place in the backyard. Now, though, the entire succah was standing, and Rikki’s older brothers were climbing on ladders to put up the sechach. Rikki’s little brother, Benny, pranced around them, getting in the way and narrowly missing knocking into one of the ladders.

Pinchas looked up and caught her staring. “Hey, good morning, sleepyhead! Coming to help?”

Rikki giggled and shook her head. It was fun watching the boys climb and build, but she had other plans. And all her craft supplies were laid out on the dining room table, waiting.

This year, Rikki was going to make the most beautiful, creative, and original succah decoration ever. Ima had helped her to plan it and buy all the materials and supplies. She was good-to-go.

Rikki worked on her craft project all morning. She showed Ima what she’d done. But no one else was allowed inside the dining room.

“Not til it’s finished,” she explained to her curious brothers for the umpteenth time. “It’s too delicate, and the glue isn’t dry yet. Anyway, you’ll have the whole Yom Tov to look at it.”

Then she closed the door, again, firmly, and let her mind wander as she selected beads and sequins and layered the colors carefully against the pale pastel background.

Art projects were so relaxing. There was no doubt about it: Succos was her very favorite Yom Tov. And decorating the succah was her most favorite mitzvah!