Sharing Hanukkah Traditions!

Sophie enjoying latkes

Will was the best latke eater!
Sophie and Becke posing at the menorah

The kids enjoying the dreidel game


Sometimes being Jewish is tough. Being Jewish in Harford County, Maryland is even tougher. While the county is slowly becoming less homogeneous, the amount of Jewish families in the area is slim. That being said, its tough for Sophie and Mason in December. Everything is red and green, Santa and Rudolph and Jingle Bells. So, we decided to have several of Sophie and Mason's little friends over to enjoy some of the Jewish traditions of Hanukkah.

We ate latkes, spun the dreidel and lit the menorah. The kids all had a great time, and Sophie and Mason (particularly Sophie) was really happy to share her customs with her friends. It was really cool to see several of her friends already know about the rules of dreidel and different aspects of the holiday.

Tomorrow night we are headed to the synagogue in Harford County for a Hanukkah party. That should be fun!

On a scary note, I was in Target last week and asked an employee where the Hanukkah paper, bows, etc was. He replied "We don't do that here". Hmph!

It's so much fun to share customs and traditions. I truly believe it makes people more tolerant, accepting and loving to all people when you can step outside the box. When the Hanukkah hoopla dies down next week and Christmas celebration kicks into high gear, hopefully the kids will learn new things and experience the fun of the Christmas season!

First Snow of the Season!

Well, the calender may still say its Autumn, but we got our first blast of winter today with a little snow! The grass is covered and we probably got an inch or two. The streets mostly remained wet, so it didn't slow me down on my day off with tons of errands to do.

The kids loved seeing the snow fall from he sky and Sophie tried to catch snowflakes in her mouth. They wanted to go out and play, but it's getting dark out now..hopefully tomorrow.

I work tomorrow, so I'm curious to see how Maryland calls it. Traditionally, the schools close in Maryland at the first flake, so I'd be content with a snow day or a delayed opening!

We had the first night of Hanukkah last night and Mason got a V-Tech toy and Sophie got High School Musical dolls. The highly coveted Troy and Gabriella. They are excited to open up another one tonight!

Countdown to Candle Lighting!

I spent Friday night knee deep in wrapping paper getting all the Hanukkah presents wrapped. As my parents did for us growing up, we always had a few days to eye the gifts and strategize which one to open up first. The kids came downstairs on Saturday very excited to see all the presents out. However, in true kid style Sophie comments "Mason got more than me". I assured her that her counting was off, they both had exactly 8 gifts, and that I treat both kids equally. Although Sophie definitely got a better haul this year. Since Mason is only 2, what does he know?

Hanukkah kicked off a little early yesterday since my parents won't be able to make it down during the week. The kids got great gifts. A Leap Frog Leapster for Sophie and an awesome train table for Mason.

First candle tomorrow night!