Chanukah

August 9, 2021

There are areas of my life that are creative

There are certain areas of my life that I can be very creative in. When it comes to the Holidays, I really go all out.

We go apple picking and visit a beehive before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

I decorate with pumpkins and russet colors for fall. But the holiday that I really go crazy on is Chanukah (Hannukah is the anglicized pronunciation of the word).

we celebrate for 8 days!!!

Growing up, I always felt that Chanukah got the back seat to X-mas, and we celebrate for 8 days!!! So I decided that when I had my own home, I was going to go all out. Each year I shop at the end of the year for the clearance Chanukah stuff.

I’ll go to Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, Walmart, Home Goods etc and buy up their pillows, kitchen stuff, towels and gimmicky things. I have been building up my collection for the past 6 years. I have four storage buckets in my basement of just Chanukah stuff (although my Purim boxes are going to start adding up – I have some cool stuff planned for this year). My goal Growing up, is to make the holidays fun and exciting for our family.

My favorite is getting us all matching PJ’s – including Olaf.

But those you have to buy early because they run out of them quickly.

(The button below will take you to Amazon – not an affiliate link)

This is one link – but check back in October that’s probably when more sizes will be in.

Other than the fun – as with most Jewish Holidays, the meaning behind it lends itself to a purpose moving forward.

Chanukah is all about

how Gd is on our side
doesnt matter the size of your army, if you are meant to win you will. The Greeks were a way larger and more proffessionally organized army and the Jews won the war.
Finding miracles in the small things
Fate
Prayer

I love sitting around the Chanukah Menorah

I love sitting around the Chanukah Menorah and just watching the lights. Since we have eight nights, we dedicate some of them for family and friends and some of them just for us. We sing songs, have dinner together (which we don’t usually get to do during the week) and tell different parts of the story.

I will usually make Latkes and doughnuts one time during the holiday. Its also important to me that we give during this time. We will usually go to the fire and police dept and drop off doughnuts and we’ve sent letters to soldiers in the past as well. We have also gone to the hospitals to cheer people up but we will see what they allow this year with health guidelines.

It’s traditional to receive a gift/$ every night. We alternate between gifts, money or a family adventure. I’ve had fun with those!

One year, as a gag, I got Asaf a huge Olaf (from Frozen) stuffed animal. Another year I got him a hot wheels mini cooper because he used to love that car. Once we took Leah to the Troll adventure in New York City. In the past, I made snow globes with pictures of our daughter Leah and gave those out as gifts.