Happy Chanukah!

We are celebrating Chanukah in our house this week, though, naturally, without all the Jewish prayers and blessings, but with all the fried food!

If you are not familiar with the historical background of Chanukah, I would really encourage you to look into it. I think it will bring a spirit of celebration even to our non-religious readers.

I will relieve you of a little research and give you the basic outline. Long, long ago, in a faraway kingdom, lived a terrible king. He was of the worst sort, truly horrible and mad. His name was Antiochus Epiphanes, but the Jews called him Antiochus Epimanes (The Madman). King Crazy Man wanted to wipe out all Jewish culture and religious traditions in order to grow the Greek culture. He leapt upon the Jewish people with a force of 22,000 soldiers and laid waste to the the temple of worship, and murdered all those carrying out their religious duties. He forced the Jews to eat unholy foods and set up statues of Greek gods in the places of worship.

But along came a man named Judas Maccabeus, who, along with a small band of Jews, did fight those forces seeking to bring evil to a bright and faithful nation. Though it took several long and painful years of guerrilla warfare, the small band of Jews defeated one of the strongest armies in the world!

The evil forces withdrew, and the Jews faithfully set about to rebuild and rededicate the temple. The statues were torn down, and the Jewish people were made whole again. As the Jewish priests set to light the Menorah in the temple, however, they found only a tiny amount of oil that had not been desecrated by the Greeks. It would not be enough to keep the Menorah lit. Amazingly, the one-day supply of oil kept the Menorah lit for an entire 8 DAYS, until new oil was taken through the purification process to be used.

I was awe-inspired to read this. So I decided I wanted to celebrate Chanukah this year; the celebration of good over evil, the celebration of faith and strength through a difficult time, and the celebration of miraculous works by our God. Although, we have been busy, and I really haven't done much besides light the candles, and cook a little fried food.

Now, let's recap the week!

Claire turned 18 months on Nov. 29, so to celebrate, we got out the Christmas decorations and decorated the tree. ;)

Friday: Therapy (hard work, Lara!), play date and lunch with friends, home for warm, snuggly naps and a quick visit from Dad, then the Nutcracker! Lara and I were so excited to see The Nutcracker, a ballet we watch all year long. (Daddy and Claire went to Kidstuf at church.) Bloomington got a lot of snow that night, so it was perfect, crunching through the falling snow, on our way to the show. Here is Lara and Mommy, ready for their Girls' Night Out. Lara LOVED the show, but had a hard time during intermission. She felt like the show was over, despite my assurance that the ballerinas were just "taking a break."

Sunday: Our first Christmas gathering at the Whites'! After a nice meal, the girls got to open their Christmas presents. This surprised me; we've not made it to a White Christmas celebration in quite awhile, so I did not expect the girls to come home with bags of fun books and toys. They each got around 6 or 7 gifts. Here is Claire, with a gift she picked out with some money she received. She loves it!! It was so sweet of everyone to think of the girls, and I really appreciate it. I made some candied walnuts to take the party; here is Lara watching the candy thermometer.

The girls did very well at the gathering, and as we had decided to stay the night in the area, we went to Homer and put the girls down for naps. Around 5, Lara woke up very upset, and we soon realized it was because she had come down with the stomach flu. :( I asked her if she felt like she was going to throw up, and when she said yes, we made a beeline for the bathroom, just in time. But it wasn't a big deal as she was over it by around 10 that night. Lara is really good at being sick-whatever that means. ;) She gives warning when she is going to be sick, and she doesn't make messes. She doesn't get too upset, and she stays put until she is better. I am sure this was nice for Claire, who didn't have to vie for attention that evening; Lara and I stayed in another room away from everyone.

Monday, yesterday: Lara and I went to my mom's house for most of the day. I watched my brother Christian while Mom took the day off and did some nice things in town. In the evening, we went back to Dustin's parents' for Monical's, and Lara helped Grandma decorate their Christmas tree, while Claire tried to dress-up in the Christmas tree beads. Then, it was home to bed!!

Although, Claire is not a big fan of going to bed. When I tell her it is nap time, she runs away. This is where I found her hiding the other day.
This is such a busy time of year, and I hate that it is already going by so fast. But we are living it up, as best we can. ;)
And sometimes I have a very good helper in Lara, who made a grocery list for me the other day.
So cute.

Time for me to get back to the daily grind! Happy Hanukkah!!