Happy Hanukkah

I love this time of year for many reasons but one of them is because my good friend, Becky, always invites us over to her house to put on a traditional Hanukkah celebration. It's grown over the years as when Trysten was the only child we'd sit around the table and she'd recite the traditional passages, etc but 2 more kids for us and 1 for them (plus many others!) that got pushed to the side a bit this year.

Have no fear, there was a lot of traditional stuff happening and we loved every minute.

Beth brought just her eldest to the celebration. Thomas might be the sweetest boy I've ever met.




Oliver, Trysten and Tariku. Love this picture because Oliver kind of looks like a future serial killer and Trysten just looks like a goof. A few things Trysten has learned in school this year: bunny ears and the phrase, "that's tight" to describe things that are cool. For example, "Oliver, I like your shirt, that's tight."



The Menorah



The many, many kids enjoying color time (Dan, Becky's husband, was also doing his part to celebrate Hanukkah by playing the song made famous by Adam Sandler).



Becky teaching the kids to roll some matzah balls. Trysten fell in love with the soup many years ago and asks for it a lot. Part of me wants to make it once in awhile (truth be told the entire family loves it) but the bigger part of me wants this to be something special Becky does for him.



And then of course Dailah teaches Eli the proper way to roll the dough into a ball.



The beautiful hostess. Mmmmm, that soup is making my stomach ache.



The real hostess "Baby Cates". Dan and Becky's little peanut, she couldn't be cuter even if she were created on a computer program. The lucky princess gets to celebrate what her parents fondly call "Christmaskah", all I know is it equals lots of presents!



They really do love each other a whole lot.