Hanukkah

Hanukkah started on Wednesday and all week we have been either preparing or celebrating.  Hanukkah is not a major holiday.  I try very hard not to make it a "Jewish Christmas".  With Hanukkah being earlier it is easier. Still when people ask about Hanukkah it is easier to answer "our winter holiday" than go into a full explanation.

Froggy loves all the holidays and joyously bounds into whatever is presented to her. With the cold nasty weather we have had this week, lots more crafts were in order so the holiday made a great focus.  We made a tissue paper menorah, sparkly window clings (my personal favorite) thanks to Almost Unschoolers, and some cookie cutouts to take to the Hebrew School party. 

In amongst the crafting, we read some fantastic books.  Froggy's favorite is her PJ Library book, The Chanukkah Guest. She opened it in the car and instantly fell in love.  She picked it as the story time book for the Tot Shabbat I lead at our shul.  Somehow though it was never selected as a bedtime book for the parents to read. Instead she picked A Hanukkah Treasury over and over again.  This book is a collection of short stories and poems related in some way to Hanukkah. There are even recipes included in it though we did not try any since we have our family favorites from years past.  I like that it includes the story of Judith since too often the women of the Bible are left out.

My personal favorite of the entire collection is Hanukkah Around The World.   It shows how Hanukkah is celebrated in different countries.  I loved showing Froggy how while parts are different many things are still the same.  Each country has a different food that is special to them yet each of the foods is fried remembering the miracle of the oil.  And while the clothes and games and songs may be different still every lit the hanukkiot and said the same brachot in Hebrew.  Froggy was not so taken with this book as I was and did not reread it at all on her own probably because there is no story with it. She did want to talk about the differences as we celebrated so that is a plus in my book.

Come join the reading blog hop over at ReadAloud Thursday ,Feed Me Books Friday and Mouse Grows Mouse Learns,.  I am also linking this to stART at A Mommy's Adventure