the 7th night.

 

the spinning slowed the teensiest bit today.  just enough for me to putter for 30 minutes in the morning before setting off on the ride again.

tonight is the seventh night of hanukkah.  i do love this holiday.  i love the celebrating, i love the joy, i love that it goes on and on.  i do.  i love the spinning dreidels, and the music, and the chocolate gelt, and the fried foods.  i love potato latkes, you know.  (any excuse to eat potato latkes.)  i even love the presents - giving them, especially.  (do you know that this holiday is not at all about presents?  not at all.  presents are a recent addition to our celebration of hanukkah in this country.)  but most of all i love the lights.  i love the candles burning, i love how my daughter asks to watch the candles burn down before going to bed, i love how the light grows each night until all of the candles are burning at once on the eighth night.  i love that.

we light a lot of hanukkah candles in our house.  we have a lot of hanukkiot.  (sometimes it's called a menorah, in hebrew it's called a hanukkiah - pronounced han-ooh-key-AH - and plural it's hanukkiot.)  most nights we light them all, some nights we don't.  each hanukkiah requires 44 candles to make it through the whole eight nights of hanukkah (on the first night we light one candle + the "shamash" or helper candle, on the second night we light two candles + the shamash, etc.), and in our family we have five hanukkiot - so that's 220 candles over eight nights.  that's a lot of candles, a lot of lights burning bright.  and i love that.

i've had a fair number of questions about our hanukkiot, and especially about the one you see below.  i'll give you a bit of information here, and if you have more questions, feel free to ask and i'll answer as best i can.

this little menorah is aluminum, it's like a little puzzle, and it was a gift to b. several years ago at hanukkah.  both kids have hanukkiot of their own - l.'s is made of little pewter animals (you can almost see it lined up behind the puzzle menorah in the photo above - we didn't light that one tonight).  i love them all, all five of them, for different reasons and in different ways.  two were wedding gifts, two were gifts to our kids, but i have a special attachment to this one that d. and i bought together a few years ago.

seven nights down, one night to go.  until december 1 next year, when hanukkah begins again.  (because the dates of the jewish holidays are determined by the lunar calendar, the timing of those holidays shifts from year to year.  i'm super glad i noticed tonight that hanukkah falls super early next year.  now i won't be surprised in november!)

Comments

[RW]

I loved reading this post.
Thanks.

[Grace]

I've been deleting a bunch of email out of Outlook over the last few days. And last night I came across our correspondence before and after the dolls two years ago. Those two Hanukkah dolls are maybe my favorite of all of mine.

This is going to seem weird to say in a blog comment, but I really love you, Emily. Not like, "I luv ya, girl," but like, "I really love you, dear friend." You inspire me, make me remember to slow down, to be more reverent, to live more fully. I love to hear about your home and celebrations, the similarities and differences that our families hold. If I got nothing else out of this blogging adventure, ever (and of course that's not the case), then I can at least say that knowing you has been very worth it. What a blessing you are to all who get to share a little bit of what you offer through this space. Here you are, shining a light out into the rest of the world. I count myself so lucky to know you.

I am so sick so I think I'm being a bit nonsensical. But this post just moved me, especially after reading all that email last night.

So now here's my comment.

xoxoxox

[erin]

oh gosh. grace has me all teary.

thank you, friend for taking the time to write this all down. i am pretty sure that you have told us all this before (maybe on molly's blog?), but i am so thankful that you did it again. i, too, love learning the differences between our faiths and traditions. and i feel very luck and blessed to have spent time celebrating with you and your family.

big hugs. i hope today is a bit calmer.

[Erin]

Your Hanukkah photos have been so beautiful. And loved the dreidel photo as well. Thank you for such a beautiful blog.

[bright and blithe]

Beautiful images. Thank you for allowing us to peer inside your celebration. I feel warmer just looking. You've captured it so well.

[C]

So pretty! Happy Hanukkah!

[Katie @ cakes, tea and dreams]

I love all those lights, and all the different colors and shapes of the hanukkiot. Hope the eighth night is wonderful.

[erica]

Thank you so much for sharing your hanukkiot...I have enjoyed the pictures and your stories in the past. Though our faiths are different, I have always found this to be a beautiful holiday, and your post truly moved me. All of those lights, and the reverent observance. So wonderful

[alexandria]

Your posts and words on hanukkah are so wonderful. The photographs are lovely!

[Jodi]

Another wonderful post. And oh my the comments. I'm still a newbie here but it obvious that you are adored. That 4th menorah. Oh my, I love it. It appears to have holes for each night. Do you think that it's still being made?? I'd love to find one like it. Happy 8th crazy night. I love the last night with all the lights!!

[Kim Living Life]

what a lovely post and thanks for sharing all about the hanukkah celebration. What a lovely sight it must be in your home each night with all the glowing candles.

[Its-me-joda.blogspot.com]

Emily,

I found this blog by reading the article you wrote for "Artful Blogging"... I was first drawn by the photos in the article - so peaceful.

I am not an artistic person, but I DO appreciate beauty and find it in uncommon objects and places.

The traditions and photos that you have shared in this post are both beautiful and inspiring. Thank you for sharing this piece of yourself, your life.

Breathtaking!

[jen]

Happy Belated Hanukkah! And thanks for posting next year's date--I LOVE when it's much earlier than christmas. I enjoy relaxing when everyone else is running around. I don't mean that to sound snarky (much).

[theaxx]

Hanukkah is a little new to me, this being my first little year... your posts have 'lit' my little heart and encourage me to light many many candles next year!!

Truly lovely!

thea.
xx

www.spoonfulzine.com

[nativekee]

love love love your take on Hanukkah...
inspiring & love all the colors!

happy new year!
kee

[Amy]

I feel quite similarly to the comment you left on my blog this evening. How is it that I've never visited your space before? I'm looking forward to reading back through your posts and getting to know you some.

[ugg boots]

It's a great post!!!