Celebrating Hannukkah

    Last night, I celebrated my first Hannukkah night.
     When my daughter Maria, who was raised a Catholic, married Justin, who is Jewish, they had a blended Christian-Jewish ceremony under a canopy:

....presided over by a rabbi

...and Pastor Doug Warburton from my church, Peace Lutheran:

    Since then theirs has been a marriage of blended faith traditions, which they've carried on with their children. 
    So this this season their home has a Christmas tree as well as a menorah.
    Last night, the third night of Hannuakkah, Maria, Justin, and my two grand babies, Makaila and Sienna, arrived in Columbus from Los Angeles.
    So along with our Christmas decorations  I'd put up some Hannukkah decorations and an electric menorah in anticipation of celebratiing the nights of Hannukah while they're here.

    We began the evening with a turkey dinner, a meal of thanksgiving for their safe arrival and for their visit.
    After dinner all of us who were present, Justin, Maria, Makaila, Sienna, my son Tommy and me moved to the living room to begin our third night ceremony using candles that Justin had brought and the menorah that Sienna had made at her pre-school.

     Hannukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated over eight days, commemorating the ancient miracle of one day's worth of oil burning for eight days in the Temple in Jerusalem.  
    And so for each of the eight nights of Hannukkah there is a candle-lighting ceremony in which one more candle than the previous night is placed in the menorah and lit.  The higher candle in the middle, known as the shammus candle, is also lit each night.
    Last night being the third night of Hannuakkah, 3-year-old Makaila, with her dad's help, lit the shammas candle and the three Hannukkah candles while her Dad said the prayers:
    "Barukh atah Adonai, Eloheinu, melekh ha'olam."
    Blessed are you, Lord, our God, sovereign of the universe.

    After the candles were lit and the prayers finished, I played some Hannukkah songs, "Rock Of Ages", "Hannukkah, O Hannukkah", and the "Dreidle Song",

...with a little help,

...and we all sang along.   
    Then it was time for the Hannukah gifts for the children - each night of Hannukkah the children get a small gift.
    I gave the girls "Hello Kitty" flashlights in honor of the Festival of Lights.
    They were a big hit.

    Then our candle-lighting ceremony was over and we had only to let the candles burn all the way down, as is required.

    We'll have another candle-lighting ceremony tonight and for the next four nights of the Festival of Lights.
    It's a beautiful ceremony.