Today is the first day of Hanukkah! Because Jewish days start at sundown, last night was the first night of the holiday, on which we lit the first candle on our menorah. Like I did last year, I will try to recap each night on the following day! First of all, I promised to share the Hanukkah projects the kids brought home from school. But first, a history of Hanukkah:
During the time of the 2nd Temple (168 BCE), the Holy Land was ruled by Greeks. They robbed the Jews of their property, and set up idols in the Temple. Mattityahu and his sons (The Maccabees) fought the Greeks and drove them from the land. It was a great miracle that a small band of Jews defeated the mighty Greek armies. Another miracle that occurred was the miracle of the oil. The Greeks had made all the oil in the Temple impure. Oil was needed for the menorah in the Temple, which was supposed to burn throughout the night every night. There was only enough oil to burn for one day, yet miraculously, it burned for eight days, the time needed to prepare a fresh supply of oil for the menorah. An eight day festival was declared to commemorate this miracle. (via chabad.org / jewfaq.org)
Zachary made this poster. It has the Hanukkah blessings and each day he can change it to say which night of Hanukkah it is and how many candles we light.
Gabbie made this at home. It was supposed to be a garland of 12 stars but she only made 3 of them!
Simon painted and decorated this menorah.
He also decorated the bag (bottom) which is shaped like a dreidel, and the dreidel on the top.
This is a shield, which represents the battle fought by the Jewish people which Hanukkah commemorates.
Simon also brought home this cute coloring book. The story features his classmates and their favorite things about Hanukkah!
Tonight’s presents were:
Buzz and Woody pajamas for the boys and a Rapunzel dress (via Nana’s Sewing Closet) for Gabbie.
And…
Wait one second. Have I shared the news with all of you that we are going on a cruise??
On my birthday, I walked away from my computer and when I came back, I saw I’d received a comment on a status update. I was a little confused, because I didn’t remember writing a recent status update. So I clicked to see what it was. And I saw:
You can see my comment 4 down in shock because I had no idea!!
So anyway, we decided to surprise the kids as part of their Hanukkah present last night. I handed the countdown chalkboard to Gabbie. I videoed it, it’s kind of funny, but it did take awhile for it to set in. Zachary was a little confused, so the video ends with him saying “Waah!!” But he got over his distress and he is happy! Gabbie is thrilled though!
I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday today and I will be back tomorrow with a recap of Day 1 / Night 2!
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