No, but today they notified me that they have produced the card and gave it to a delivery service to bring it to me at my house. Good luck with that -- not only am I not at home but the IDF will not allow the messenger to get within 3 kilometers from the kibbutz.

In the meantime, I have been having a double Thanksgiving. My son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter invited me on Sunday to a very expensive restaurant for dinner -- my treat.

Today, I invited Marina, Polina, and Olga to a steakhouse, adjacent to a shopping mall. As Russians, they had never heard of Thanksgiving, so I gave them a brief review of the holiday, starting with the Pilgrims and ending with Santa's arrival in the Macy's Parade. Most of their winter clothing is in their apartment in Kiryat Shemona and the city is off-limits. (The mall is about halfway between where I am staying and where they are). I have bought them winter clothing over the past two weeks but this time I told Olga (age 7) that I want to take her to a toy store. After dinner, we went into the mall and before getting to the toy store, passed a clothing shop that had heavy flannel PJs, with Mickey Mouse decorating them. She obviously liked the PJs but kept refusing them until I explained that they are in addition to a toy, not instead of one.

Then she was in heaven! She kept hugging me and holding my hand from the moment I told her we are going to both stores until I got into my car to go home. My only regret is that Olga, who is beautiful, is not 20 years older.