Happy Chanuka!

The Jewish holiday, Chanukah, begins this evening at sundown. It's an eight-day holiday celebrated by lighting candles (one the first night, two the second, and so on), giving gifts, and of course, eating!

A Chanukah menorah, the traditional candelabra or candleholder, is distinguished from a regular menorah by the number of candles it holds: eight plus one placed slightly higher or set off from the others. That is the "shamash" or servant candle, and is used to light the others. Okay, so technically, there are nine. These are the "fun" menorahs. They range from the beautiful, to the one made out of clay by your kindergartener. They can be simple or ornate, plain or colorful, and the whole gamut in between.

The photo above is of a whimsical cat-shaped menorah made by a metal artist, given to me by my sister-in-law a couple of years ago.

This is my little Chanukah tablescape. There are some holiday knickknacks, my dreidel lights (a dreidel is a four-sided top that is marked in Hebrew initials that stand for "a Great Miracle Happened There", referring to the story of the Maccabbees... Oh heck! This is my photoblog. If you want the rest of the story, come over to Flamingo Musings in about 30 minutes from now.

Happy Chanuka or Hannukkah, or Chanukah, or however you want to spell it!