The Festival of Lights

Today at sundown marked the first of 8 days of Hanukkah. My mom was raised Jewish, and though we don't celebrate Hanukkah in it's entirety, we have always tried to at least keep some of the traditions alive to show honor and respect to our heritage.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE. Hanukkah is observed for eight nights, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar, and may occur from late November to late December on the Gregorian calendar. (Wikipedia)

The following are Hanukkah traditions that my family keeps:

• Lighting of the Menorah candles. The menorah is a candelabra fashioned to hold 8 candles, along with one "servant" candle (the shamash) used to light the candles, adding one candle, or light, on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night.
  
• Recitation of blessings in Hebrew. ~Blessing for lighting the candles Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav vetzivanu l'hadlik ner (shel) hanuka. Translation: "Blessed are You, LORD, our God,ruler of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to kindle the Hanukkah lights[s]." ~Blessing for the miracles of Hanukkah ‏ Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha‑olam, she‑asa nisim la‑avoteinu ba‑yamim ha‑heim ba‑z'man ha‑ze. Translation: "Blessed are you, LORD, our God, King of the universe, who performed miracles for our ancestors in those days at this time."
• Latkes. Latkes are potato pancakes made from finely grated potatoes and eggs and fried in oil. Much time and work goes into preparing these treats, because you have to peel and grate the potatoes and drain out all the starch. Latkes are significant because the oil used to cook the latkes is reminiscent of the oil from the Hanukkah story that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long-lasting flame that is celebrated as a miracle.
• Dreidel, (a traditional Hanukkah game), and Hanukkah gelt (chocolate coins). We don't really do these anymore since my grandma passed away, but these have been part of the tradition in the past and when I was a kid.

If you know me, you know that I'm not keen on so-called "religious" activities, as I don't believe that your actions are what get you into heaven...but I do think that keeping cultural traditions such as this is a great way to pass down history through the generations. That said...

Happy Hanukkah!

Nutcracker 2008

The dance studio had flyers up all over the place about signing up to get your child's professional photo taken in full Nutcracker costuming. Well, of course I was thinking to myself that I would just take a photo of her in her costume when she was wearing it at the ballet. It didn't occur to me until I was dropping her off backstage that I would never see her in her costume to take a picture, besides the time when she was on stage. So I didn't get a picture. I'm hoping to be able to order a couple when they post the professional ones taken at the ballet on the website, provided there are any good ones of her. Lesson learned.

Also, video was taken of Mikayla actually dancing, but we used the video camera instead of the digital camera for the video (imagine that!), and I haven't been able to figure out how to upload the contents of the disc onto the computer, so I have no video to post either.

But here's a picture of the little angel after her performance, in which she did an excellent job. I am so proud (again). Isn't she beautiful...

I...

...totally led worship by myself on Friday (me, the new fabulous Nord keyboard, a beautiful backup singer, and a little percussion), and it was totally awesome, or so I hear. Don't look at me..I give all the credit to my creator.

That's it.

Ashlyn's dance recital debut, and other randoms.

Today Ashlyn participated in her first dance recital! She did awesome. And, next Saturday, Mikayla will dance as an angel in LDT's version of "The Nutcracker". We have a heck of a week in front of us...rehearsals almost every night...

In other news, we finally decked out the house for Christmas. We got a smaller tree this year (on accident); turns out I'm liking the ease of decorating one that's not so massive. Now if only I could knock out the shopping part just as fast..



I'm going to a fondue get-together with a couple friends tomorrow night...should be fun.

I'm helping lead worship twice this week.

Josh has a choir concert on Thursday.

I think Tuesday is the only night I don't have anything planned.

Also, another reason I haven't been blogging as much is because I've been trying to read more, usually just before I go to sleep, which is the only time I had before to blog. A friend lent me Blue Like Jazz, by Donald Miller, and Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell (yes, I know I'm a little behind in the times!!..). I'm halfway through Velvet Elvis right now and really appreciating Rob's perspective...mostly...
One thing that stuck out to me was his knowledge of biblical history and how he set the scene for circumstances that happened in the bible by filling the reader in on the the background of Jewish history and how it relates to Jesus and his role as a Jewish rabbi. It's all very interesting and informative and leads to a deeper understanding of why Jesus did some of the things he did and the implications of his actions. I don't know how else to explain it, other than to tell you to read the book yourself.