Craitlyn: Hanukkah 2011

11 January 2012

On December 17th we hosted a Hannukah Party at our apartment's club house. Normally we celebrate Hannukah with Craig's extended family, but this year we were unable to make it. Thankfully, we had already planned to host our own party, in addition to the usual family celebration. It was fun to be able to start our own traditions, and enjoy the company of friends and coworkers.

Here's the invite that I made –

The clubhouse had been reserved in the morning, so we were not able to start setting up until about 1pm. It took longer than expected to get everything ready, so our guests ended up helping with most of the setup. By the time we were ready to start the festivities, it was already 3:30, and our reservation was only until 4. Thankfully the other people didn't show up until around 6pm, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy our food and some dreidel!

Table center pieces

Hanukkah gelt/party favor

Skyler explaining the dreidel symbols to his wife, Olivia.

When everything was ready, we gathered our guests and I read the story about the miracle of Hanukkah.

Picture "stolen" from our friend, Annelise White. :)

Then we lit the menorah. In Craig's family, it is tradition that the women of the household light the menorah. We decided to continue this tradition in our own family, so we invited each of our female guests to take a turn lighting a candle.

Our friends, Rochelle and Gaylan, sang a traditional Hanukkah song while we lit the menorah.

After the lighting of the menorah, we sat down and ate a delicious Hannukah meal. Our menu included traditional potato pancakes, also known as latkes, served with homemade applesauce (made by Rochelle), and sour cream. Our friends, Art and Rochelle, came early to make their family latke recipe, and Craig made a bunch the night before.

Picture "stolen" from our friend, Annelise White. :)

We also had brisket and a colorful salad made of spinach, pomegranate seeds, pistachios, goat cheese, and a homemade pomegranate vinaigrette. It all turned out amazing – no thanks to me! Craig ended up cooking the entire meal by himself because I sliced my index finger with a kitchen knife as I was attempting to trim fat off the brisket. At 11pm we ran to the emergency room so that I could get three shots of anesthesia and 4 stitches. :)

For dessert, we served a a fancier variation of the traditional jelly-filled donuts.