It is a beautiful little story about lighting the light of Christmas and what Christmas really means. Afterwards we went shopping and the kids each picked out a toy to give to Toys for Tots.
Day 6 of Hanukkah we talked about this scripture from Matthew chapter 5:
14 Ye are the alight of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a acandle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your alight so shine before men, that they may see your good bworks, and cglorify your Father which is in heaven.
We talked about things that they can do to let their lights shine and what they can do personally to add oil to their lamps.
On day 7 of Hanukkah we talked about how we can follow Judah Maccabee’s example and stand up for what we believe in. We gave them different example situations when they might have to stand up for what they believe in and they told us what they would do. I really hope they will always stand for truth and righteousness.
(I think the kids enjoyed blowing out the candles as much as lighting them!)
The 8th and last day of Hanukkah fell on a Sunday. We invited a few family members over to celebrate it. We lit all 8 candles and tried out some traditional potato latkes as well as some not so traditional sweet potato latkes and zucchini/feta latkes. For dessert we had apple fritters. They were delicious! Definitely something that we intend to make more often than just once a year for Hanukkah!
I loved the way the wax looked as the candles melted down.
After dinner we talked about the source of all light, Jesus Christ. We watched this video from Elder David A. Bednar:
The kids each got to open a present,
and then we ended the night with a fun dreidel game. Mandy won big!
I know this probably all seems pretty odd to most people that we would do this, but in my defense my family really does have Jewish ancestors. True, its from many many hundreds of years ago, but they are a part of my family tree. We thoroughly enjoyed celebrating the festival of lights and will very likely do it again! Maybe next year I’ll look into other holiday traditions celebrated by other nationalities in our family tree and add those in too!
3 comments:
I think it is awsome that you let the children learn and understand other cultures and religions. We are all brothers and sisters period. We only fear that which we do not understand. Mema
I don't think it's odd at all. I remember learning about Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and the REAL 12 days of Christmas when we went to Epcot at Christmastime 6 years ago. I was very impressed with each holiday. To me, the traditions and activities that go along with those holidays are (in a way) much more Christ-centered than actual Christmas. We basically have Santa Claus! I have to work very hard to make sure that my family thinks about the true meaning of Christmas throughout the season rather than just focusing on getting presents. Many of today's Christmas traditions (like the tree and the candy cane) all came about to help us remember Jesus Christ, but no one ever talks about that anymore. I just wish that the world hadn't commercialized it to such extreme. Don't get me wrong - I LOVE Christmas. It's my favorite time of the year, but at the same time, why can't Christmas be more like Hanukkah and Kwanzaa? Maybe we should come with our own version!!!
(sorry for the long rant - Merry Christmas Eve!)
I think that is great!
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