December 21, 2004
Happy Hanukkah
For Hanukkah, we were invited to an evening party at Tyler's pre-school. The children danced and sang for us. There are about 25 children in Tyler's class, so with all the parents taking pictures it was pretty crowded.
Hanukkah is a much simpler holiday in Israel than in the States. There is almost no focus on gift giving and instead people light candles, eat doughnuts and children have parties at school.
Tyler's pre-school Hanukkah party
Tyler danced pretty well, but you can tell that he was distracted by having his parents there.
Tyler dancing to a Hanukkah song (video)
In the picture below, you can see Tyler dancing with a candle (made out of construction paper). The candles celebrate that the oil for the lamps of the temple lasted for eight days. One of the church members here gave us a hanukkia (in the States it would be called a menora). Tyler also made one for us at pre-school. We think we will continue the tradition because the message of having faith during trials is a meaningful one.
Tyler dancing with a Hanukkah candle
The holiday of Hanukkah celebrates the triumph of the Maccabees over the Greco-Syrian empire. The Maccabees of Judea revolted because they weren't allowed to practice their religion. Below you can see Tyler playing the part of a Maccabean soldier.
Our Maccabean soldier (video)Tyler loved carrying around his cardboard Maccabean spear.
Tyler the MaccabeeHere in Israel, dreidels are called 'sevivon.' Usually parents give their children chocolate for Hanukkah, so we thought Tyler would like a dreidel filled with his favorite chocolate, Kinder-eggs. The Hebrew letters on an Israeli dreidel stand for, "There was a great miracle here." In the States, the letters are different because they stand for, "There was a great miracle there."
Tyler with his Kinder-egg dreidel
Brooke is growing up. She is eating much better, but she is still tiny. She makes lots of friends because she waves to anyone that will look at her. She also blows kisses and says, "hi."
Beary cuteBelow Tyler is giving Brooke a kiss on the top of her head. This doesn't happen every day, but it does happen.
Sweet brotherWe had a clear day on our way home from church so we took the picture below. The view is across the Sea of Galilee at approximately sea level. You can see that Mount Hermon has snow on it, it is the one place in Israel to snow ski.
View of Mount Hermon across the Sea of Galilee
Tyler-isms:
"I'm not talking to you, just to me" - When asked to repeat what he said.
"When my eyes get tired, they can sleep in my hat." - Excited to wear his new hat
"Burning sticks" - Matches
"The tractor is cleaning the grass to make it flat so the cows can walk on it." - When he saw a tractor mowing the grass.
"I saw a picnic without people." - A Bedouin tent
"Tunnels for legs" - Pajama bottoms
"Peel" - Bread crust
Brooke-isms:
"Woof" - You know, the sound that dogs, cats and birds make.
"Mmm" - When the food is good.