Every year, my friend invites us to her home to celebrate Hanukkah.  Like many other holidays, religious and not, this one gives us another excuse to get together and spend time with those who hold special places in our hearts. The group of ladies below connected when our eldest children were born and have shared a special friendship since then. The eldest children are now 14 years old and are freshmen in high school.As I look at the photo of the kids, I’m reminded of how quickly time is passing.  This group has shared so many moments together–some at the YMCA during swim lessons, at Kalopa for our camping outing, at the soccer field for practices and games, and too many more to list.  That is another blog post in itself.

One of my friends is Jewish and she hosts Hanukkah (or Hannukah or however you want to spell it) for us, her non-Jewish friends, at her home.  We have been celebrating Hanukkah with her family every year and our children all expect it every year.  We celebrate with the lighting of the menorah and have a kosher dinner together.  Kosher dinner to us means latkes, rib roast, roast chicken, challah bread, matzo ball soup, and many side dishes.  This year, one of the side dishes included gefilte fish.  We had it with matzo crackers and horseradish.  It may sound strange and may look a little strange, but it really isn’t so bad.  My husband indulged me in my desire to memorialize our gefilte fish eating experience by taking a selfie with me.  He’s so patient with me.

We love Melinda’s homemade challah bread. After dinner, the kids get into a game using a top called a dreidel.  This game can get pretty competitive as they put up candy pieces as the item to put into the pot.  This is basically a gambling game and is lots of fun.

This group loves Hanukkah–not just because we want to know more about other cultures and religions and celebrate it in our lives but because it gives us a chance to get together and celebrate and appreciate each other.  We take the time out of our busy schedules to get together and just be together.  Blessed to have this group of friends.  Living Hilo Style.