Our Hanukkah Party

We had 3 tables

Sunday was our annual Hanukkah party. To be clear, we are not Jewish. We celebrate Hanukkah because I am weird  because I loves Hanukkah food. I celebrate Christmas without religious belief, so I see it as the same. It started in 2003, I think when I was looking for a different idea for a holiday party and has grown. We have Hanukkah dishes and Hanukkah decorations and Hanukkah music (oh we love the LeeVees).  I exchange Hanukkah gifts with my niece Maggie.  It is the my favourite holiday.

This year we had our biggest party yet. 21 people and cousin Emma (who is a dog). The Man, with Uncle D's help spent like 5
hours cooking latkes. The Man spent over 8 hours slaving over the stove and that isn't an exaggeration. It was a feast fit for a king. (We have leftovers, yay!)

Hailey has issues with kids and people in the house, so it is always hard. Aunt C, Uncle D and cousin Maggie arrived early (so Uncle D could help the Man in the kitchen because I am useless). After a time in her crate, Hailey was great. Then more people arrived and Hailey got totally stressed out. She went back into her crate for a while (over an hour). When we let her out, she was amazing. I didn't get a picture of it, but for a time she was laying on her bed right beside where the kids were playing. I was so, so, so proud of her. I would still never leave her alone with kids, but it was huge progress. Maggie is spending a few days with us over the holidays so we hope she will get use to her.

Phod was slightly stressed throughout the day. He was calm, but you could see he wan't sure. However, he was great with the kids.

Helping Maggie open day one of Hanukkah gift

Maggie was standing and Phod went to stand with her

Overall, while it was a tone of work, and we were exhausted when the last guest left around 6 pm (we ate after 2), it was a great Hanukkah. Although, maybe next years will be a little smaller!

Aunt C is one of her favourite people, so Hailey made sure to give her lots of kisses!