Celebrating Eight Crazy Nights

My dad's side of the family is Jewish. So, in addition to Christmas, we also celebrate Hanukkah. Here is the story:

In ancient times, the Greeks and the Israelis used to live happily side by side. But one day, there was a new king of the Greeks, who took over the land of Israel and forced all its people to follow his own customs. Some people were fine with this new way of life, but others couldn't stand it! One such person was Judah the Macabee, and he led a revolt against the Greek army. Though the Greeks were much stronger, the Israelites still managed to defeat them.

However, this wasn't the end of it. The Greek army had all but destroyed the capital city, Jerusalem, including the temple. In the temple, there was a special candle holder called a menorah, and the flame in it was supposed to burn forever. But, the during the war, the flame had gone out, and only enough oil was left to keep the flame burning for one day. This was a problem, because it took a total of eight days to make more oil! Yet, after eight days, the flame was still burning. So, we celebrate Hanukkah to celebrate the miracle of the oil.

Busy at work in the kitchen...
...making latkes! (potato pancakes, a traditional dish of this holiday)

Didn't I mention these were crazy nights?

The chef with his latkes

Our dinner: latkes with applesauce and sour cream, steak and mustard, green beans

Before we eat, we have to light the menorah. Each night, we add another candle. This is our menorah on the last night of Hanukkah.

Only one candle is lit with the match: the Shamas. This candle is higher up than all the other candles, and is used to light the other candles.

As we light the candles, we recite three prayers.

Our menorah is of nine of the cynagues in the world. I've only been to two.

I just thought this was a cool angle :)