Second Night of Chanukkah 11'21

 

The second night of Chanukkah went  much like the first  

and the cats continued to  join us 

while we said the blessings over the candles.

We decided that it might be a bit dangerous keeping the Menorah 

on the coffee table with the cats so close, 

so we moved it to the top of the fireplace mantel

where it was less likely to get knocked over.

After devouring a delicious plate  of latkes, with sour cream, green onions, and applesauce, 

Bruce and I have watched a Youtube Chanukkah story built around a remix of the musical 'Hamilton'. The performance was given in 2016 at the White House by the Chorale Group Six13. So the video has been around a while. Still, it was new to us, and given that we just saw Hamilton for the first time a couple of weeks ago, we probably enjoyed the remix a great deal more than we would have if we had seen it before we saw Hamilton.

See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWcd-K8_X34

First Day of Chanukkah 11'21

 In some ways,  having to downsize Thanksgiving

 due to Covid's social distancing was a blessing,

 because this year,  the first night of Chanukkah

 fell on the Sunday night that Thanksgiving weekend ended.

Having fewer Thanksgiving ornaments to put away

made it much faster and  simpler to 

transition into  Chanukkah.

One of the first things we set out was Bruce's Menorah. 

 He has had this with him since he joined the Navy at age 18, 

and we cannot imagine celebrating this holiday without it.  

Next, the dining room table was reset

with blue and white dishes

and a Judaic latke dish and spatula.

I also put up a  blue bottle menorah in the front window.

We don't light it due to the potential fire hazard, 

but we do shine a spotlight on it,  so that everyone 

can see it from the outside.

And of course,  we celebrated by lighting the first candle 

followed by a lovely meal of roast duck and ended the evening by watching the 

National Menorah Lighting ceremony.

Thanksgiving 2021

 Thanksgiving 2021

was relatively subdued this year.

Due to the HOA construction projects

  going on in our front yard, 

we were only able to put up Tom Samoset,

and a few of  our favorite 

scarecrows.

It was just enough color 

to keep the house look festive and welcoming.

 Due to COVID, we couldn't invite our family or friends

over for a big Thanksgiving get-together.

 But that did stop us from dressing  up the table with 

all of our Thanksgiving dishes.

And even though it was only the two of us eating, 

we prepared a  full traditional feast of:

 roast turkey, stuffing,  wild  rice,

 roasted broccoli and mangos,

  roasted sweet potatoes,

cranberry-orange sauce,

 and of course, homemade pumpkin pie.