The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 8

and so to the last of my 8 Nights of Chanukah Tags.

I'm sorry to have finished and yet happy to see the full set at last.  I'll try and get a photo of them all in situ next week.

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 7

you have probably realised by now that I am going through a range of colours - each one leading into the next. I wasn't sure how I would enjoy the final two colours - today's being gold, not a colour I work with much - but thankfully the first one has turned out fine. Now I just have the final tag to make and will be searching the old grey matter for something apt, but for now here is the seventh night....

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 6

I have to admit this is my favourite so far.

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 5

I used acetate for my top layer on this one.

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 4

another fun one to do, I'm not sure if you can see the Star of David in the top lefthand corner - made from acetate.

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 3

now this one I really enjoyed

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 2

and here is the second night.  I made the miniature Torah Scroll from a  bamboo domino.

The 8 Nights of Chanukah - night 1

I have to say I love the Tim Holtz 12 days of Christmas tags but for obvious reasons the theme is of no interest to me.  Since Tim started these a couple of years ago I have just watched and wished I could somehow adapt them then yesterday it came to me.  I am making 8 tags for the 8 nights of Chanukah and using the style of Tim's tags to influence mine.  So without further ado here is night 1....

hopefully I will have all 8 made ready to display when Chanukah starts sundown on December 20th.

Welcome home...

...to Gilad Shalit.  Your family, friends and Israel never gave up on getting you home safely and after more than 5 long years you are thankfully back where you belong.

Israel showed the world that the life of one young Israeli soldier is worth more than the lives of over a thousand Palestinian terrorists and have brought him home where now may he find peace and time to recover and recuperate.  You are an extremely brave young man and may your life now be filled with nothing but blessings.  Baruch Hashem.

Pesach....

....I think if you did a survey well over 50% of us would say Pesach was our favourite festival, it has always been mine.  It involves a lot of work for the wife/mother, several weeks of frantic cleaning turning out every drawer and cupboard, every nook and cranny.  Then the big change over which I always leave to the very last minute and spend the last couple of hours before Pesach managing on the draining board because the rest of my kitchen is ready.  The day of our seder is spent cooking everybody's favourite foods, special cakes and biscuits that I only bake at Pesach and Pesach rolls which are such a treat - but thats probably because we have to then wait another year before we have them again.  Of course also preparing all the food for the seder which by tradition has always been held at our house.  But this year things have changed, for several reasons we decided to hold it at my older son's home, I made the chicken soup, the chopped liver and the roast chicken, my son's wife make all the vegetables and prepared the seder plate and my younger d-i-l baked macaroons and the lightest plava. 

I have always found the seder a very special and moving occasion - thinking back to how the Israelites escaped slavery and what they went through, having the whole family round the table for several hours.  This year our 4year old granddaughter was allowed to stay up for the whole seder, hopefully next year her little sister will be able to as well.   My younger d-i-l sang Mah Nishtanah with a little help from our granddaughter, then we have a family tradition of singing a song about the plagues it was written by a friend of ours and is sung to the tune of 'One Man Went to Mow' and by the time we reach the 14th verse the whole family is singing at full voice.  It just all goes together to make a wonderful family time and creates special memories. 

After shul on the first day I try to spend some time thinking over what has happened to our family and to this world of ours - a time to reflect and to remember and to wonder what is ahead of us.  A time to pray for peace in Israel and for the brave boys and girls there who are defending the country.  To also think of the British boys and girls who are working abroad in the Armed Forces and to wish them all a safe return to their families. 

May the leaders of the world be given the desire to find true peace and may all the peoples of the world be treated equally and allowed to live in peace.

Chag Sameach