Passover 2018

Our Passover Table for 4

We so LOVE celebrating the LORD's feasts!  I think it's mostly because the focus is on YHWH [God the Father] and Yahshua haMashiach [Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One].  Each of YHWH's Moedim [Appointed Times, Feasts] focuses on our Amazing and Awesome God; instructing us to humbly make sure our hearts & lives are clean & dedicated to Him -- to repent & obey His instruction, and celebrating His bountiful blessings -- the first being the love that YHWH has bestowed upon us through the death, burial, and resurrection of Yahshua our Saviour.

Although I love repeating myself, I won't go into every detail about Passover in this post.  Much of the basics are in my past PASSOVER POSTS.  119 Ministries has a very good series on Passover & Unleavened Bread.  Jews for Jesus also has a very good presentation/video called Christ in the Passover that has become a classic during this time of year, connecting the elements of a traditional Jewish Seder [i.e. "the telling"] with the message of Messiah's redemption.  There are literally hundreds of ways one can observe Passover as the Scriptures only give us a few guidelines, but of course, the most important thing is to focus on Yahshua our Messiah and the redemption He provided for us. 

With every passing year I/we continue to learn and grow and mature and change in light of what we learn and study in Scripture.  It was about 14 years ago when we really began to see the difference between His Ways vs. mans tradition, starting with our  holidays -- reevaluating the well-intended "Jesus is the Reason for the Season"; discovering that pretty much every element of our traditional holidays came from pagan practises; in other words, we were trying to honor God/Christ using very pagan practises and thinking God is pleased with this as long as we "Christianize" it and say, "That's not what it means to me".  Yet, GOD SPECIFICALLY SAID NOT TO DO THAT (Deut. 12:4,29-32; Matthew 15:3).  And although the pagan stuff is not what it means to you and me, it's surprising just how many, even in this 21st Century, mix the holy with the profane and know exactly what they are doing -- I was recently watching a travel show about how people celebrate various holidays and was shocked at just how many of our innocent traditions are used by the masses around the world, as they worship their false gods or the devil himself the same way we celebrate our "Christian holidays"; and they have been doing this for centuries, long before Christians adopted like or exact practises and gave them a Christian meaning.  That is to say, no, they didn't mimic our Christian holidays, we are mimicking their pagan practises!  YIKES!!  Even many American witches & satan worshipers marvel at what us believers do in the name of Christ (as they know these traditions are pagan), and I'm sure the devil laughs.

Anyway, this aha moment lead to many more aha moments as I held everything I thought I knew to be true to Scripture, as a Berean (Acts 17:11).

But I digress, so getting back to Passover...  

We have observed a traditional Passover Seder in some years; which is beautiful and so richly points to our Messiah; and some years we have had a rather minimalist approach, often due to illness or as in last year, my mother's recent passing.  This year, we took an in-between path, forgoing the lengthy traditional Seder, yet retaining, of course, the elements given in Scripture.  So here's a brief photo journal of our Passover 2018...

First, I clean!  (no photo, ha)   I try to remove all leavening agents from our house!  (Exodus 12:15,19; I Cor. 5:6-8)  Thankfully, I make nearly everything from scratch, so boxes of processed food with yeast of any kind are minimal here.  Honestly, I don't go crazy in this step, I remove the leaven, but not all grains & flour -- they are NOT leaven unless you buy the self-rising flour.  Yes, I clean the kitchen better than normal, but I don't follow what many Rabbis teach with their fences upon fences.  I load up a couple boxes of stuff and Jeff puts them in our sauna haus' changing room for the week.  (Sorry, I don't throw them away).  I really didn't miss any of it, except for the baking soda that I use in brushing my teeth (I still use my coconut & essential oil tooth suds - lest you think I don't brush my teeth for a week :)).   

My décor is minimal, but I included a red sash over our patio door reminding us of the blood that was sprinkled on the door posts. 

And Yahweh spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh's passover.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the mighty one's of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am Yahweh.  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to Yahweh throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you.  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance forever.  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.  Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.  And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning.  For Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.  And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.  And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which Yahweh will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.  And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?  That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped. ~ Exodus 12: 1-27

~~~~~~ 

 The table was semi-dressed up, very similar to last year, with the addition of CHARGERS this year!  Woohoo!  I finally broke down and spent practically nothing with a coupon from Hobby Lobby.  They are kind of a light gold/silver, maybe a gliver (I just made that up).  At any rate, I think they make my everyday dishes look pretty dapper. :)

Anna placed our plague décor around the flower vase in the order of the plagues.

Hears a close-up for the plague décor.

(blood, frogs, gnats/lice, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locust, darkness, death of firstborn)

I was excited to FINALLY find the stretchy frogs -- at a zoo gift shop for 37¢ each.  I would have liked to have kept all this out throughout the week of Unleavened Bread, but Amber's cat, Dorie, loves fuzzy balls and before you know it, she is playing with them and I just found one she had stashed away in the family room.

 My dinner menu is pretty much the same every Passover with of course, matzo, Bubbie's horseradish (for the bitter herbs), and organic grape juice.  Usually I fix lamb chops, but changed it up a little with the smoked leg of lamb.  Some have a conviction against having lamb at Passover, we don't.

I need to make a note to put in at least one leave into the table next year as it gets pretty crowded with food & dinnerware.

Passover 2018 Menu 

Smoked Leg of Lamb

Greek Salad

Marinated Feta Olives

Herb Roasted Parmesan Potatoes

Oven Roasted Carrots

Horseradish w/Lettuce for Bitter Herbs

Organic Grape Juice

Matzoh

Chocolate Toffee Matzoh Crunch

A plate full of yumminess!

If you have never had smoked leg of lamb, it tastes a lot like smoked ham, but much less fat.  I haven't eaten pork in 6+ years, but I buy a lamb or at least a half a lamb from my organic meat supplier/rancher every year and eat lamb all year round.  Our favorites are lamb chops, lamb steak, and smoked leg of lamb.  I think lamb is best served hot, or reheated, one never hears of cold lamb sandwiches -- it tastes kinda yucky cold.

Chocolate Toffee Matzoh Crunch is so seriously good!  As of this writing, we just finished off our  3rd pan full!  You can find my recipe HERE [scroll down at link].

It's really good to have a menu planned not only for Passover but for every day of Unleavened Bread as well, otherwise, at least for me, it's so easy to announce to the family that we are going to have sayyy "Pancakes" and get their taste buds all worked up for them, and then remember, oh, right, that has leaven in it.  Never Mind! 

Following dinner and putting away the food, we gathered in the family room and read Scripture about Passover with discussion, and continued to do so a couple of nights after.

Passover is just one night, one dinner really, and then starts the time of Unleavened Bread which lasts 7 days.  It is also the start of Counting the Omer for 50 days up to the day of Pentecost.  This is the flip thingy that I made for Counting the Omer.  My blog post about how to make this counter always becomes popular this time of year from visitors from Pinterest. :)  Here is the link to THAT.

I so love our times together as a family, feasting, and celebrating our LORD!  With the girls' crazy work schedules and knowing that someday they will be off starting their own family traditions, I soak in every moment together.

So, I think that about wraps things up for this year's Passover post!

We have a busy springtime planned -- once the snow melts (sigh).

The MN Horse Expo is coming up; a short vacation; and some other exciting plans!

I am also very late in posting about our foyer makeover, but enough for tonight.

Blessings Dear Friend!

Love, Jane

footnote: I know I'm not consistent in always using the sacred name as most of my readers are not use to reading Hebrew, and I don't think it's beneficial to write in a way that few can understand, nor to have to keep defining every word.

Please read as you are comfortable.

   

Hanukkah 2017

Welcome to our Hanukkah Celebration!

Come on in, help yourself to a fresh baked gingerbread cookie in the shape of a menorah, a dreidel, or a star and enjoy the lights and warm fellowship as we celebrate

The LIGHT OF THE WORLD.

I'm not sure how long we have been celebrating Hanukkah; I know we started celebrating it long before we ditched our Christmas tree.  I think I've covered our whys & wherefores  in past posts (links below), but just to say that the celebration of Hanukkah is relevant and important for all believers as it is the story of unshakable zeal for God's instruction, devotion to God's Commandments, the will to stand up for what is right & holy, and rejecting assimilation into a pagan world.  It is the story of the rededication of God's Temple and His people, and this is really what all the fall feasts are about - a humble rededication of our own temple -- our hearts and lives to the One True King of kings and Lord of lords. 

~~~~~~

Posts from past Hanukkahs:

Happy Thanksgiv-Birth-ukkah! 

Goodbye to Christmas (Part III): Celebrating Hanukkah

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

~~~~~

And here's a glimpse into this year's celebration...

Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication, 8 Days & 8 Nights

December 12 - 20, 2017

Although the Feast of Dedication is not a feast of YHWH as listed in Leviticus 23, it is mentioned in the Bible in John 10: 22-23

"And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.  And Yahshua (Jesus) walked in the temple in Solomon's porch."

Yahshua did not condemn the celebration but rather used it as an opportunity to teach that He is the Light of the World.  (John 8 - 10)

An 8-night Feast! (pictured night 4, Chicken Marsala night)
Jeff had the honor of lighting our oil lamp from Israel each night. 

Our Hanukkah Menu

1/Tue) Papa Murphy's Pizza (10 buck Tuesday)
2/Wed) BBQ Brisket, Rice, Roasted Parmesan Broccoli, Gingerbread Cookies
3/Thur) Herb Roasted Lamb Chops, Latkes, Green Beans, more cookies!
4/Fri) Chicken Marsala (non-alcohol), Roasted & Glazed Carrots, Salad, Olives
5/Shabbat) Honey Salmon, Oriental Fried Rice, Kale Chips
6/Sun) Texas Roadhouse for a belated birthday lunch and Spaghetti & fend Supper
7/Mon) Deluxe Been Hotdish & Garlic Toast
8/Tue) Fried Chicken, Cole Slaw, Fried Potatoes of choice (Brass Rail Take-out), homemade Apple Bars

You may laugh at my menu as it doesn't seem like much of a feast, but we had to be a little more flexible with both of our girls working a variety of hours, including a couple late nights where Anna didn't get home until almost 10 p.m..  And only one night did I remember to play Hanukkah music (oy).

Gingerbread Menorahs, Dreidels, & Stars

Speaking of working late, we usually spend our Hanukkah evenings playing several rousing board games, all with a Hanukkah or Biblical theme, and we talked about it, but instead ended up vegging out in the evenings, too tired to think!   However, following dinner, we did retire in the family room and read "Light in the Darkness: Hanukkah and the Disciples of Yeshua" by First Fruits of Zion (online pdf).  A great little booklet on the whole story of the Feast of Dedication including many portions of Scripture and I Maccabees, followed by some good family discussions. :)

We do not believe that Hanukkah should be celebrated like a Jewish Christmas, it's not.  And we debated whether we should switch our gift giving to Thanksgiving, but truth be told, we just ran out of time, hopefully next year, but we do give gifts because we are so very thankful for God's gift of FAMILY and the light each one brings into our lives!  With the girls basically adults now, most gifts are gift cards.

We enjoy having lights while we celebrate the Light of the World. 

And yes, even though we don't do Christmas, I still enjoy reading each card & letter and displaying the latest photos of people we love.  I haven't sent out any cards in years, but I keep thinking I should start sending out something maybe at Thanksgiving or at the end of the year.

   Despite this photo looking rather eerie, the blue & white lights above the kitchen cabinets really do look festive in real life.

I was going through my emails just this morning and found out we missed an invitation to a "Festival of Lights" open house that would have been very fun.  I hope they have it again next year!  

 

Looking through the patio door with pompom garland draped down.  Horses way out there!  So far we are having a rather mild Minnesota winter, which I love (I hate having to trudge through deep snow to the barn and freeze to death), but hubs would like a little more snow for cross-country skiing.  It's suppose to turn cold (-25 windchills ) soon.

 Our last night of Hanukkah gave us some real-life examples of the Hanukkah story as our lamp ran out of oil and I didn't have quite enough traditional candles for our hanukkiah.  No miracle happened here, so we used these oh so pretty Tag candles. :)

A couple random add-on photos:

It's now Christmas Eve and although our family doesn't celebrate Christmas, our extended family does.  Traditionally we would be going to the in-laws for a family dinner/gathering, but Anna had to work late, so that has been postponed to ?, maybe  January.  But hub's parents will be joining us for lunch tomorrow as I didn't want them to be alone.  So I'll have a smaller spread, not as much food as at Thanksgiving.  We don't have any Christmas décor, in fact, our Hanukkah décor is still out. :)  Anyway, here are a couple photos from today...

Icicles hanging from our greenhouse this morning.  It was +18, not that bad by Minnesota standards, but there was a slight breeze that made it feel much cooler.

  I find much of my groceries in our basement -- we eat homegrown & organic as much as possible.  It makes all the hard work at harvest time so worthwhile. :)

We don't have a fireplace -- I wish!  We had this on tv for a bit, but hearing the old songs flooded my heart with so many dear childhood memories of family and a simpler time with much more love & kindness -- both of which are just a fond memory.

   

I guess that wraps up this year's Hanukkah celebration.

Thanks for stopping in!

May You find Peace and Joy in knowing the true

Light of the World, Yeshua HaMashiach (Jesus the Messiah)

with Love, jane

Passover 2015

 

Springtime Greetings to All!

This year I'm not going to tell of all the whys and wherefores of Passover, I think I covered that pretty well in years past (click on links if you want to see) ...

Passover 2013

Passover 2014

so today I'm just going to focus more on a few scenes from our abode...
 

 First, I always have to put out my Triumphal Entry figures (sorry for the blur)

I've always loved this celebration, possibly because of the palm branches and me loving all-things tropical.

 So, by the looks on the calendar, it's that time again -- the Spring Feasts -- WooHoo!  We all take delight in them -- a time of seriousness and celebration!  Our family happens to follow the 119 Ministries calendar (online), so we are usually a day or two off from the traditional Jewish calendar (pictured: our calendar from Israel) -- just a little something to make things more confusing, teehe.

We cleaned out our pantry of yeast products & crumbs and stocked it with matzah (unleavened bread).

I don't know why many people complain about matzah, I think it's yummy! (I don't eat that much bread)  We eat Matzah (and nothing containing yeast) for 7 days (Exodus 34:18)).

We get quite a few people asking what kind/where we get our matzah;

Whole Foods!  (It's from Israel, but not "Kosher")  

  

Our Passover Meal table with Herb-Roasted Lamb Chops (YUM!, one of our favorites).

This year's meal was a bit rushed as we had Bright Lights Bible Study at our house (21 girls here) and they leave at 5 p.m. or so.  We broke with tradition a little and ate first and then had our Passover seder afterwards (it's always easier to go into it and not be famished), but next year I'll try to remember that the meal typically happens in the middle of the seder. 

This was our dessert!  Another Whole Foods purchase!
Matzah covered with caramel, really good chocolate, and almonds.

It was absolutely THE BEST!!!!  

My DIY 10-Plagues Table Decor

1. Blood (small glass container with a few drops of red food color) - if you have littles, you can add the food color ahead of time and then pour clear water in the container in front of them and wow them them of turning the water into blood).

2. Frogs (wouldn't ya know it, usually I see toy frogs EVERYWHERE, but when I want one, there isn't any in sight and believe me, I searched!  I finally borrowed one from church (it's since been returned), so now I have a whole year to find my own.  I know I can get them from Oriental Trading, but I didn't want 144 of them; that truly would be a plague.

3. Lice (I tacky-glued a piece of course sandpaper onto a piece of folded cardstock and then dripped some dots of tacky glue on the sandpaper and sprinkled rice on the dots for lice -- God turned sand to lice.

4. Flies (I found a package of plastic glittery insects in Walmart's easter assortment that happened to have a fly, disproportionately large aside of everything else, but it will do.  I hope to paint it in more realistic colors by next year (and yes, glitter everywhere!).

5. Livestock (bought a couple of cute plastic animals from our farm store)

6. Boils (small red/pink pompoms; I later had to put them in a plastic bag as Dorie (cat) thinks all fuzzy balls are her play toys.  I initially wanted to use "Red Hots" candy, but they are hard to find this time of year.)

7. Hail (Miniature Marshmallows) - if you have young children, ping pong balls would be fun!

8. Locusts (the package (see #4) also contained a dragonfly which was about as close to a locust as I could come up with (outside of a picture).

9. Darkness (black felt glued onto folded cardstock and a few tiny googly eyes glued on the felt).

10. Death of the firstborn (Lego coffin I bought on eBay)

And on to our Passover Seder

(Seder means "order, arrangement")...

Actually, Scripturally speaking, there are only 3 foodie elements to Passover:

 Lamb, Unleavened Bread, and Bitter Herbs (Exodus 12:5-8) and one cannot even Scriptually observe the Passover today because there is no Temple in Jerusalem, but as instructed in Exodus 12, we are to keep this day as a memorial unto the LORD throughout our generations, as a statute FOREVER!   

 but like everything else, Jewish tradition has added to that so there is even a seder (order) to it all.  And although not necessary, the seder is still filled with meaning, and whether our Jewish friends know it or not, they still point to the Messiah... 

The Elements of a Traditional Seder Plate (used in the Haggadah (Hebrew for "the Telling"):

- Maror (horseradish) - bitter herbs, life was harsh for Israel in Egypt (celery is good with/after the horseradish);

- Z'roa (lamb shank bone) - Passover Lamb (we had lamb chops);

- Karpas (parsley) for "life";

- Charoset (chopped apples & nut mixture) - Mortar for bricks;

- Chazeret (bitter vegetable/lettuce) - Life was bitter for Israel in Egypt;

- Baytzah (roasted egg for Eternal life, mourning for the temple) - (I waited to late and didn't get that done).  

This year we used this Haggadah (Hebrew for "the telling")

"A Christian Passover Seder" by John Pontier 

I LOVED this Haggadah!  It's from Doorposts - gushing with Scripture, it gave me goosebumps and I had to fight back the tears by the end -- so beautiful! (recommendation: if you are interested in using this particular Haggadah, it is recommended (and I agree) to get one copy per person (or at least every 2 people) that are old enough to read as everyone has a part in it).

Jeff takes the leading of our Passover Seder very seriously and enjoys doing it

... and we love him doing it!!!

♥

Anna, being the youngest, stands and asks the 4 Questions.

Amber reading some of the Scripture portions.

The girls opening the door to see if Elijah has come.

(of course, we know that Elijah is our Messiah Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus Christ))

 

Jeff being silly after the Seder was over and roasting a miniature marshmallow (hail) over a candle, and you know what happened!

Passover is basically a Holy Day meal, just the one night; a memorial of deliverance and of Jesus Christ being our Passover Lamb, and the Passover meal ushers in and is a part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread which goes for 7 nights/days.  Sometimes one may hear that Passover is for seven days, but actually, Passover is just one (very important) part of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.  Then Christ was raised on Firstfruits (I Corinthians 15) (celebrated as easter by most Christians).  In addition to not eating yeast products that week, I try to make our suppers special each night of Unleavened Bread;

        ... however, in keeping with our family tradition -- things never go as smoothly as I envision and we had to do the best we could with limited family time -- with Amber's work schedule and Awana of course, but unfortunately we had an added life-changer when I received a call just before 1 a.m. on Sunday morning from ER that my widowed 86 yr. old mother (whom we were planning on spending lunch with that day) was there.  Long story short, Mom had a "Cardiogenic Pulmonary Edema" (sudden fluid on the lungs due to the heart being too weak to keep up) and a small heart attack.  So I ended up making a middle-of-the-night trip to the hospital (an hour away) and back & forth thereafter until I could bring her to her home again Tuesday afternoon.  Like Mom said, that heart attack took a lot out of her and she has been quite weak & feeble since.  Despite her having her first bout with congestive heart failure last November, she was doing well; although she refuses to believe that she has heart failure since she has always enjoyed unbelievably good health and it was thought that she had the same long-life gene as several of her extended family members who lived well into their mid-90's or so.  So my thoughts this week have been focused more on her and what to do next.  For now, she wants to & thinks she can still live on her own where she's at, but I have been busy researching other options for when the time comes.

So, getting back to the topic of our celebrations, it has understandably detoured my focus this time around, but we did the best we could.  Now we are counting the Omer! 

And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto Yahweh. ~ Leviticus 23:15-16

And using my snazzy, dazzy Omer Flip Calendar that I made last year.

Counting the Days to Shavu'ot (Feast of Weeks/Pentecost)

 A Devotional Flip Calendar

The evening after our Passover Seder I was already making notes while it was yet fresh in my mind of changes I want to make for next year -- my "Don't Forget List".  Every time we celebrate the Feasts of the LORD, they just get better and better.  The spring mo'edim (appointed times) are a memorial of what the LORD has already done and the fall mo'edim  look to things soon to come.  They are a delight and glorious in His sight when focused on Him.  Praise Yah! 

I guess that about wraps it up for Passover 2015.

Have a Blessed Spring my Friends!

Thanks for Stopping ~ jane

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)