4 down, 4 to go.

We're smack dab in the middle of Hanukkah right now. And, as Naomi pointed out last night as we lit the candles--the days go too fast. I suppose that's what happens when you fill them to the brim with fun little activities.

balloon man at the downtown lighting of the Menorah 

felting balls 

So far the crafts have included making dreidels out of clay. Trying our hand at German paper stars. Felting balls in hanukkah-ish colors. Coloring printed out coloring books. Making Sugar Cookies and today decorating them. Tonight latkes, hopefully sufganiot (donuts), assembling our felt balls into a garland of some kind, and a few more are on the list for the week.

If we run out of ideas there's always pinterest, and the ideas we've used in years past. 8 days can seem a little daunting, but when you get to it it turns out there's always more fun things to do. And with everyone around doing special crafty things for whatever holiday they celebrate, there's a plethora of ways to alter and rework to make them appropriate for the Festival of Lights. 

spinning 

melt-in-your-mouth shortbread

Short-Shortbread recipe:

1 1/2 cups butter at room temperature.

1/2 cup sugar

4 cups flour

preheat oven to 350F. Cream butter and sugar. Add in flour and mix well. If it doesn't come together in a roll-out-able fashion add 1/2tsp of ice water at a time until it does. Usually no more than 1tsp is needed. Roll about 1/4inch thick and cut with the cutters of your choice. Or stamp and cut. Bake about 15 minutes, they don't need to brown too much.

Chag Semeach Hanukkah!

Gingerbread Temples and Beeswax Crayons

Naomi loves to make gingerbread houses, and this year it occurred to me that we could really make it part of our Hanukkah celebration by modifying a kit to make a Temple with some Macabbean soldiers. It was pretty fun to play with candy, and a great way to deplete a stockpile of candy we never let our kids eat anyway...

Then, last night everyone opened a gift. Leviah chose her new set of 24 Beeswax crayons and the two girls played all morning coloring pages we got from the Hanukkah storytime a the library last night, and this cute coloring book we bought last year from this sweet shop, and reprinted. It should keep them busy for a while! Naomi has been kind of interested in robots lately, so it worked out well. She was talking in a robot voice all morning.

oh. and this happened...hint.

Judah Maccabee and other Stamped Cookies

I saw these via pinterest and actually used the idea!

this is my plate of favorites, but we made all kinds.

It was a great way to decorate shortbread cookies, especially for little hands. The end result is a bit like old-timey shortbread molds which can be difficult to make work.

It was very simple, we rolled out the dough  and stamped.

Glazed with egg wash to make them shine.

And baked.

Shortbread cookies are probably my favorite, and this recipe worked perfectly--others I've tried have been too dry and difficult to make cut-out cookies from.

:RECIPE:

4 sticks of butter

1 cup of packed brown sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 275F degrees. Cream the butter and sugar. Add salt, flour and vanilla and mix until well blended. Roll out to about 1/4inch thickness and cut shapes on a generously floured surface at will! Collect scraps, re-roll out and repeat until you've used all your dough. Bake for 45-50 minutes.

Did you make your favorite cookies this holiday season?

Are Your Candles Rolled?

We took one morning last week to work as a candle factory. (we used this kit)

We are ready to burn-em-up!

on the to-do list (among other daily necessities):

make some cookies like these. (we should be so talented)

tell the story.

keep reciting this poem.

maybe make some of these for 'wrapping'.

clean this house. then, that's ALWAYS on the to-do list...

Hanukkah Complete

A few days late, but we've been recuperating from our 8 day string of non stop adventures! Here is the final tally of notable events and creations.

We finished off some salt dough ornaments, visited the local library to enjoy some more crafting and finished up with these vintage donuts shared by Joy a few weeks ago--she had me at 'vintage'! They were really quite easy & absolutely delicious. The kids really enjoyed seeing where donuts come from...

Now we're moving on to projects around the house. Stay tuned--I'm going to need some opinions!

Why? & Free Crafts

Some of you know the unlabel-able ins and outs of our faith & while it is really only important to those in my 'real' life, I do want to explain something about why it is we celebrate Hanukkah. As with most things in our lives, we try to be aware of the way we're effecting the world, the way we interact, participate and the footprints we leave. We're also careful with the celebrations we've chosen and the events we've allowed to become a part of our 'rituals'. What goes into our bodies is important, so we choose the best foods. What goes into our hearts is the same.

Drew and I were not raised in Jewish homes, though more so than we realized. Our faith walks have lead us to a place that embraces the ancient traditions that would have been celebrated in the time of Messiah, the ones that are outlined in the Old Testament. Those include Passover, a seventh day Sabbath, The Feast of Tabernacles and more. Our conclusion is that these Hebraic festivals are so filled with the spirit of our faith that we have grown to crave them and love them. We've learned that their timing is not only relevant to our spiritual life, but to attaching us with the earth and inspiring our desire to relate to the seasons, the harvests, the animals, etc. in a a seriously connected way.

Hanukkah fits in, not as a commanded feast, but as tradition based on the providence of God in the lives of people who depended on Him, people who were suppressed, suffering and isolated--a place we all feel to be at different times. The message of standing firm, keeping your candle from under the bushel in the face of absolute destruction is one I've not found so well represented in any other celebration.

As with all the festivals, Hanukkah is a time of reconnecting us also with our family and friends. One of our favorite places to find great resources for study put out a Feast of Dedication (the translation of Hanukkah) booklet that had a great essay about the importance of family.

"During this week we are reminded about how the mighty arm of the Lord saves His people. We remind the kids that fiery persecutions come upon those who follow after the Lord, but that in the end, the Lord is always victorious, and He rewards those who seek Him." 

(Light: Rededication, Miracles, Enlightenment, Celebration. 2010. p56.)

Life is not easy and there is no road you can walk on which there will be no stumbling, but if we carry our lamps we can stay on course--we can find joy. This is where our family is. We are not Jewish, but we're not simply Christian either. We are believers and at our best we are doers.

Also, I wanted to share a few links to free Hanukkah activities.

We already love the toymaker, but yay for these!

Lots of info, songs & more here. 

Wish I'd found these before today, but we'll get busy.

And a little Hanukkah coloring book.

& A Creative Jewish Mom has loads of great ideas!

Crazy Nights: #3 and #4

the weather outside was frightful

but the Latkes were so delightful.

dreidel, dreidel, dreidel...

i made you out of clay.

and when you're dry and ready...

then dreidel I shall play.

We had a big Hanukkah bash last night with lots of crafting, dreidel spinning and fun. & 3 birthdays to celebrate, too. It was a memorable night.
The above picture medley includes gelt bags inspired here. Thanks Martha.
& Dough ornaments using this recipe:
4 cups flour
1 cup salt
1 1/2 cups water.
Shape your ornaments, bake at 350degrees for about an hour, allow to cool then paint! (don't forget to put a hole for hanging)

Simple fig newton/pretzel stick recipes & our local weather. Off to prepare for night #5...

Crazy Nights: #2

Oh our second day of Hanukkah.

Well, first we went downtown to the Menorah lighting last night, ate latkes, cookies, heard music and shivered. It was a chilly night, but it was a nice crowd & there was more huddling than usual amongst strangers. & there was cider...

We came home to and lit our own menorahs (we have 4, one for each of us). Due to the chill the girls opened their gifts a little early (note cloves/hats in the outside pictures above).

The girls shuffled off to bed excited about a week more of fun.

Today we ran some errands and made shortbread cookies. I worked on a simple project that got me frustrated with our new printer. Maybe I'll try again later...Naomi colored the first part of this adorable coloring book I found on etsy. (not the cause of my frustration).
The cookies are delicious and I'm sharing the recipe. If anyone has a good recipe for icing, I'd love to try it. Ours didn't work so great, but Naomi LOVES decorating things--most of her works were devoured upon completion, Leviah's too.

Shortbread

3/4 Cup Butter

1/4 Cup sugar

2 Cups Flour

Cream sugar with butter, add flour & mix well. Roll about 1/3" thick and cut shapes. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for about 18minutes. (check regularly, under cooking is better than overcooking--nothing raw to worry about). Decorate as you choose & enjoy!

More on how we finished tonight later!

Crazy Nights: #1

Our first few Hanukkah crafts:

 1. This sweet advent style menorah craft a friend of mine found in Family Fun magazine. Although we were a little rushed in putting them together, they turned out really cute & I look forward to using it, or something similar for years to come. I know the girls will flip when they realize what it's for (which will be this evening). Each candle has a paper behind it that lists one special activity for each day of Hanukkah...what could they all be?!

2. Rolling a few candles out of beeswax. Naomi loves doing this. It takes 44 candles to light a menorah all week, so there will be plenty more rolling to do, but we have enough done for tonight's first candle & the Shamash (servant candle in the middle of the menorah--it lights all the rest).

We'll keep rolling them out!

A Festival of Lights

Feeling better it's becoming easier and easier to get excited about things that 2 weeks ago wore me out just thinking about. My make-up to do list is growing.

First, it's Hanukkah time. We don't generally make a huge deal out of it, but this year we're planning lots of crafts and fun, almost as a means to apologize to my poor children for 8 weeks of boredom. Fortunately our area has several events going on with the library & downtown. Meanwhile our own friends and family intend to get together and celebrate as many nights of the 8 day holiday as we can.

The relevance of Festival of Lights is in the story of letting it shine, a story of not giving up--standing for what you believe in against all odds. Passion, gumption, strength, bravery, wisdom and ultimately trust.

The kids are super excited. We've hung some lights in our windows & some gifts are wrapped, menorahs are dusted and awaiting their candles, some of which we'll start rolling tomorrow. Should be an eventful and adventurous week. I will try to document as much here as possible, there is catching up that needs to be done.