Chanukah!

Chanukah has arrived! Well, it arrived about 5 days ago but this is the first chance that I had to write. All in all, Chanukah in Israel has been really great. The most exciting part is that we are lighting outside for the first time! I went on Sunday to one of the local hardware stores and bought a glass box. Then it got interesting. I figured Elie would put it together because he's just waaay better at these things than I am. But after realizing that he was not going to be able to get home early from work and we really would just want to light right away - I had to attempt to put it together on my own. Oh dear. First I took it out of the box (good thinking, right?), and looked at all the various screws and panes of glass and thought - "there is no way that I am going to be able to do this, forget it". After about an hour of playing with Tani and looking over at the pieces lying on the table, I decided to try again. I must have tried it 4 or 5 different ways before finally figuring out where all the pieces were ACTUALLY supposed to go and, wait for it, I DID IT!!!! Let's not bring up the fact that Elie could have done it probably in about 10 minutes and it took me an entire afternoon, the point is - I DID IT!!!!
Anyway, Elie and I were really excited to light because Netanel has been talking about the chanukiyah, bringing home projects (including his own chanukiyah), etc. and we couldn't wait for him to actually see it. Well, as we were lighting we brought out Tani's gan chanukiyah so he could "light" too. So that may not have been the BEST time to bring it out. He was so obsessed with sticking his "candles" into his chanukiyah that he didn't even want us to pick him up to show him the REAL one. As anti-climactic as that was, it was by no means the worst part of the first night of chanukah. Tani's bedtime was right after we lit because Elie hadn't gotten home until about 7. Tani's bedtime also meant the time when Tani has to leave his chanukiyah downstairs - oh boy. We finally got him to stop crying enough to put him into his crib relatively calm. However, about 15 minutes later we started hearing cries of "chanukiyyyyyyaaaaah" that lasted for about 30 minutes until he must have tired himself out and eventually fell asleep. I think the funniest part of the whole episode is that when I told over what happened to my ulpan class the next day, they were all like - "that's so sweet, he loves chanukah so much - ayzeh yofi!" I guess it's all how you look at it.
On Tuesday, the 2nd day of chanukah, Elie took the day off and we went up north with Elie's parents and the Eisens. Elie's cousins, Toby and Tzvi Klein (some of you Baltimoreans probably know them) who made aliyah about 2 years ago had arranged a visit to an archeological museum near their house up north in Ein Dor. We rented a car for the week and we all drove the 2 hour drive to the museum. A few interesting points about this tiyul. First, a "day of vacation" in Israel means getting up at about 6 a.m. to daven and get everything ready because we had to leave at 7 to be there by 9 - sounds like a vacation already, doesn't it? Second, I was a little concerned about the museum part of the trip seeing as Tani, while he is smart, is not quite at the point of walking quietly and calmly looking at ancient artifacts. In fact, I am not really there yet, either. So I basically packed the diaper bag as if we would never see food again - pretzels, crackers, cookies, cucumbers, bananas - you name, I had it. I figured, if all else fails, we'll just stuff him to keep him quiet. Well, I have to say, I needed very few of those snacks. The entire 3 hour tour was filled with stuff for the kids. There was pressing olives, coloring, running around, and Tani even got a chance to paint his own ancient oil lamp. We all had a really good time. After the museum we went to Toby and Tzvi's house for a HUGE lunch and then headed home around 3 p.m. It was very tiring but a really great day and everyone had fun.
Last night (Wednesday) we had a family chanukah party at our house. Kleins, Eisens, and Roses were all in attendance for latkes, baked ziti, and salad. Afterwards, everyone stuck around for a dessert/Siyyum. Elie made a siyyum on finishing Seder Mo'ed so we invited a few more men from the block (to make a minyan) and had a big dessert after the siyyum. The star of the show, aside from Elie of course, were the AMAZING sufganiyot that Sara brought from a bakery in Modiin called Roladin. There were sufganiyot of everyone taste and color you could imagine and they were all great. I have to say, as much as I miss Dunkin' Donuts and Entenmann's - 8 days full of the most amazing sufganiyot in the world may make up for it - I'll get back to you on that. (Although, it is very sad that there is not a custard sufganiya to be found.)
Tonight we are heading to Jerusalem to see some friends and then going straight to the Rose's for Shabbat Chanukah.
Hope everyone is enjoying their chanukah and time off over there in the US (I do miss having Elie home knowing that it is Dec. 25 today).

Side note: Feel free to comment - I would love to know who is reading this!!!!