The purpose of the book is to assist families in celebrating all the major holidays that are celebrated at Temple Israel of Hollywood Nursery School. The idea for creating this book came from our own inexperience and lack of expertise. We wanted to share in the fun and feel a part of each holiday our children celebrated at school. We wanted to learn what they were learning so it would enrich our own family traditions. We were particularly interested since we were not raised in a Jewish family but had chosen to raise our children as Jews.

The advantage of putting this book online is that it can become a more fluid document. We hope to add to it as we learn more and hear from our readers about fun and meaningful ways to create celebrations. We freely acknowledge our liberal usage of ideas. Accurate crediting is virtually impossible since many of these sources are simply unknown. Therefore, we wish to thank everyone who has provided inspirational ideas to celebrate the holidays.

It took us a long time to put the original book together and we have many people to thank. First, Arlene Chernow, Regional Outreach Director for the UAHC, who has more patience than anyone we know. Also, we owe very special thanks to Rabbi Michelle Missaghieh and Rabbinic Intern Jennifer Clayman who produced the explanations of each holiday, the vocabulary list and the blessings. Our thanks to Enid Sperber, our wonderful librarian, for the bibliography and Eti Dori for all the songs. Our sincere thanks to Sue Epstein for giving a discount on her delightful Shabbat CD, which we have included in all the books for our new families. Finally, our thanks to the staff of the Nursery School for their suggestions and support and to Beryl Strauss, our former Principal, for her patience with our protracted time table.

While this book grew out of discussions with interfaith families, it our hope that everyone will find it useful. We have learned a great deal though we do not consider this project completed. We hope to add information, activities, resources and fun ideas annually. We welcome comments and suggestions on this second edition, please let us know what you think.