Goodbye to Christmas (Part IV): Our 2014 Hanukkah Photos

Finally!  My final post of my 4-part series on why we don't do Christmas and celebrating The Feast of Dedication (Hanukkah).  If you haven't caught my first three posts, I warmly invite you to take a peek:

Goodbye to Christmas (Part I)

Goodbye to Christmas (Part II): Why?

Goodbye to Christmas (Part III): Celebrating Hanukkah

Today I'm going to do less teaching of the whys & wherefores of Hanukkah vs. Christmas and just share photos of our Hanukkah 2014.  If you have a desire to remove the pagan traditions from your holy days (holidays) there are several good sources out there (and many bad ones).  Some of the best sources are 119 Ministries and Passion For Truth.  (caveat: I can't say I agree with all of Passion For Truth's doctrine, but I'm not one to throw out the baby with the bath water).  Friends are welcome to add more sources in the comments.  Passion for Truth has a particularly good YouTube on how they do Hanukkah (here).  Some not-so-good resources would be most of the "Jewish" sites that don't know the Messiah and focus on the oil, food, or dreidel.

Being Hanukkah isn't a command of God or specifically listed amongest the 7 Feasts of the LORD in Leviticus 23 (or anywhere else in the Bible), there isn't any right or wrong way to celebrate it (except mimicking the pagan Christmas way).  Oh sure, there is always Jewish tradition!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=gRdfX7ut8gw

Just the other night Amber & I broke out in this song. ♥

...but we'd rather not get caught up in Rabbinical micro-management.

So here is what we did...

Hanukkah 2014

Being Hanukkah is perhaps a later celebration of Sukkot & also the Festival of Lights, it is an 8-day celebration (WooHoo, already it's better than the 1-2 day celebration of Christmas :)).  Just think!  An 8-day joy-filled party!

There are some elements of Hanukkah that most follow and we do too: Lights/Decor; Lighting the Chanukiah (menorah); the Blessings and/or reading Scripture; Songs; Pray; Games; Food; Gifts; and Charity.

1. Lights/Decor & Hanukiah:

Hanukkah decor is usually far simpler than Christmas. Seriously, it takes all of five minutes to put it up and take it down! (and far less storage too) 

This year we added steady blue and twinkling mini-whites.

Of course, the main element of Hanukkah is the special 8-branched Menorah called the Hanukiah/Chanukiah with the 9th taller candle (if you look closely, ours is the middle slightly taller candle holder) called the shamash or servant candle that lights the rest of the candles.  The candles are placed right to left but kindled from left to right.

The Shamash representing our Messiah, the Supreme Servant. ♥

On the 7th night!  We also have an oil lamp that a Jewish friend gave to us from Israel.
(We use to have a traditional menorah, but it took a tumble from the top of the fridge one year.)

Our unexpected guest most evenings was this little lady bug that found the warmth of the candles inviting.

As you can see in the background, we had a couple of strings of lights left over from our Christmas tree days that Anna wrapped around the banister -- we like lights!  I think I'll buy more lights for next year.

On the 8th Night - oh, oh, the oil in the lamp is running out!

If you watch the Passion for Truth video on how Pastor Jim Staley's family celebrates Hanukkah, you will see his devotional that he gives to his family, with each candle representing something different in Scriptures: Of course, the Shamash being the Light of the World.  Day 1) Light of Creation; 2) Adam - the Light given to Adam, fall, not to place our light under a bushel; 3) Moses - Shared with Israel the 10 commandments, a light unto our path; 4) King David, reading Scripture from Psalm 119 and other light-related verses; 5) Yahshua/Jesus Christ death & resurrection, a city on a hill; 6) Disciples - Take light and give to others; 7) Gentiles receive the light; 8) Return of Yahshua/Jesus Christ, see not dimly, but face to face! Amen!

2. Blessings

I printed out some blessing cards for us to read at the Hanukkah table.  Most are from Hebrew 4 Christians, some are just Jesus-is-the-light type Scriptures.  One is a prayer.  Hebrew 4 Christians also gives suggested Torah readings for Hanukkah.

Note: There is a traditional Jewish blessing when lighting the candles that goes like this, "Blessed art thou, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who sanctifies us with Thy commandments and commanded us to kindle the light of Chanukah."

We don't do that one as God did not command us to kindle the light of Chanukah.  Instead our card says, "Blessed art Thou, Lord our God, King of the universe, who sanctifies us with Thy commandments and has given to us this season of gladness, to kindle the light of Hanukkah, for the glory of the Lord Yeshua our Messiah, the Light of the world."



3. Songs

There are a lot of great songs out there for most every taste in music, and one does not have to limit themselves to just Hanukkah songs either.  I uploaded several on to my Tablet and played them every day of Hanukkah.  My personal favorites are several of Joshua Aaron's songs, the ever-fun Maccabeats, Michelle Citrin's Left to Right, and Phillips Craig & Dean... and other worshipful songs.

4. Games

Hanukkah is a very joyous family time!  One of the big elements to help keep the festivities going for eight whole nights is playing games.  Now, we have a large selection of games, but let's face it, many of them the girls have outgrown and I was just getting a little tired of the same old same old, so this year I decided to invest (have you priced board games lately?) in a few new games... 

New games!

Anna spinning the top in the traditional Dreidel game.  I saw a friend used Hershey Kisses which I think I would like better than those cheap-chocolate coins -- next year.  It's an okay game, but we finally just quit lest it go on forever.

Kingdom of Solomon is very fun!  The girls tell me it's similar to Settlers of Catan.

I like games that have some strategy to them.

 Operation Maccabee is also very fun.  At first I wasn't sure how us girly girls would like it as it's a war-type game (bought it more because I thought hubby would like it most), but it's more like a WWII rescue-prisoners-from-a-concentration-camp game, and of course, we want to rescue everyone from the bad guys.

You move your game piece across the board (barely pictured on the left) - moves determined by the spin of a dreidel (much funner than a spinner or die) and try to free the prisoners until all the camps are liberated.  Whenever you land on a concentration camp, you get to spin the dreidel (several times) and knock out little army men.  If you get all the men down, you have liberated the camp.  There's a lot of other factors and point things going on as well.

  

We also played "Sequence, Jewish Edition", which is pretty fun, not as fun as the other two, but a much quicker game.  I'd never played Sequence before, but it's a lot like Bingo, this one having "Jewish" symbols to cover.  There is a little strategy involved, but only if you get the right cards. (ie, I NEVER won)

And Hanukkah Mad Libs is always good for a chuckle -- best with the younger crowd or those that know the basic parts of speech.

To tell you the truth, I've never been much of a game person -- perhaps because I was an only child and never had anyone to play with (and my parents never bought any games), but I do have to say, these were fun, especially Kingdom of Solomon and Operation Maccabee.  We even played them on New Years Eve and I still don't have them put away.

5. Food

Just think!  Eight nights of feasting!

Which is great, except a bit of a challenge if you are the cook ;-). 

In connection with the legend of the miracle of oil, anything cooked in OIL is BIG -- traditionally Latkes and Jelly Donuts!  But, being we are more into eating healthy and really don't like a lot of oil, we forgo the donuts and only had latkes a couple of times during the eight days.  I tried a different latke recipe this year from a contest winner and liked them much better than last year's attempts. 

Latkes (potato pancakes) to the left

 Chicken Marsala

 Our 8-day menu included...

Barbecued Beef Brisket

Herb Roasted Lamb Chops

Beef & Turkey Sliders

Deluxe Baked Bean Hotdish

Chicken "Marsala" (no alcohol)

Honey Salmon in Foil

Fried & Spicy Grilled Chicken

Crustless Pizza Casserole & Lasagna

Sides included: Glazed Carrots, Kale Chips, Crusty Bread, Potato Latkes, Roasted Parmesan Broccoli, Fruit Salad, Potato Salad, (& I forget the rest).

Sweets: Chocolate Covered Cherries (beautifully handmade, compliments of Anna's piano teacher -- thanks Jess!!!); Ginger Cookies; Sugar Cookies w/Blue Crystal Sprinkles, Chocolate Dreidel Coins (haha) - finally finished them off today.

Actually 3 of our family nights were interrupted because the girls had a commitment to play music at our church's program plus there was still one night of AWANA and the girls were out with friends one night.

Anna playing Joy to the World on her ukulele (everybody was asking her to play her uke in church - probably a first).

Amber (right) playing a violin duet.

 6. Gifts

Gift giving is totally optional and some have a conviction not to give any gifts; that's fine.  Others just give one or two small gifts, homemade gifts, or a few pieces of gelt (coins).  We, on the other hand still do gifts.  Probably not as big as when we did Christmas, but I just feel it's an lovely expression of love and to say, "You Bring Light into My Life". ♥

  

 A stack of most of our gifts, I know it looks like a lot, some were money or gift cards, but we like to wrap things in a way to keep'um guessing.  This year the girls and I got smart and set up our own Wishlists on our Pinterest  board with pictures so we knew what each other wanted.

The girls playing with their gifts on Day 1.

Amber gets her long-awaited mandolin and Anna has some new ukulele hymn books.

Don't the Kitties look thrilled about Hanukkah? hahah

7. Charity & Volunteerism

Last but not leastly, Hanukkah is a great time to give to others and a good time of year to get in those last charitable gifts before year's end.  We have a number of charities we support.  Additionally, it's a great time to volunteer -- between Thanksgiving & the middle of December  we volunteer at the Operation Christmas Child Distribution Center in the Twin Cities.  I know it seems like a contradiction, and perhaps it is a little, being we no longer do Christmas and yet participate in something that has the word "Christmas" in it, but we have been active in this ministry for a number of years and although the collection & packing of boxes is in time for Christmas, what many don't realize is that these boxes go out at various times of the year and many to countries that don't have a great sense of a "Christmas Day" because they are Hindu or Muslim or extremely poor -- they are just so excited about receiving something.  Anything!  Along with each box is a booklet that witnesses to that child and most go through a school or church where there are teachers and preachers who will continue to minister and do Bible studies with the recipients.  I have heard so many beautiful stories of children receiving Christ as Saviour and of answered prayer that I can't help believe in this organization no matter what the title.

This year, like always, we were scheduled to volunteer at the Distribution Center but they reached their goal early and closed up the warehouse before it was our turn.  We are happy for them, although missed the opportunity.

Well, there you have it!

I hope you enjoyed a peek into our Hanukkah.  It was so much fun, I really hated to see it end.

Some families jump into doing the LORD's feasts and other festivities like Hanukkah with both feet and catch on right away, and then there are the rest of us that take a few years to really get the hang of it -- it's difficult teaching an old dog ya know, but such a blessing.

Celebrating the Light of the World during this time of year (and in this day & age) when

so much is dark & bleak is such a joy!

           

 Chag Hanukkah Same'ach!!!

(Joyous Hanukkah Festival)