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Saturday, December 27, 2014

2014 Family Hanukkah Party

The family Hanukkah party got snowed out last year and didn't happen.  So we were long overdue to bring everyone together and celebrate a happy occasion.  This year we met at my in-laws house in the Pikesville (Baltimore) area. 

Kudos to Elaine (my fabulous sister-in-law) for frying all the latkes.  Yes, enough latkes to feed this crazy latke-eating family.  Elaine cooked enough for a small army.  You can never have enough latkes!! In addition there were platters of cold cuts, cole slaw, pasta salad, and kugel.  Yum-O!  But if you ask me, the latkes are the star of the show.

Unfortunately one of the Pennsylvania families could not make it this year.  However we did get a nice surprise and Devorah was able to come.  Even with a few missing, it's still a pretty big group. 

We mixed it up this year.  Marcia and Miriam (the matriarchs of the family) orchestrated a trivia contest, with all the questions having to do with the family.  We were divided into 4 teams - a good mix of different siblings/offspring coming together.  Let the competition begin!  There were 20 questions, plus a bonus question.  The questions ranged from "What country did Rae immigrate", to "What years did Marcia and Miriam graduate high school", to "Name one of Samantha's teachers", and "Name as many ingredients as you can in the Grandma Rae's famous cookie recipe."  The bonus question was list as many middle names in the family as you can.  My team came up with 26 middle names!!  Of course my team won. Woo-hoo!!! Although I couldn't have done it without Hava and Linda on my side.  It was truly them who gave us the winning edge.  Oh, what fun!

I am particularly pleased with how the family photo turned out.



The trivia contest wasn't the only cool thing about the family coming together to celebrate Hanukkah.  There was a big box of wrapped books.  Everyone got to pick one and open it.  If you didn't like the book you got, you could find someone to switch with you.  Ian ended up with the "Miniature book of miniature golf" and has been playing the game daily on this little 8 x8 size book of putting greens with a little golf club and ball.  Each page is a different golf course.  It's totally cute. I think it took Ian two trades to get to this book.  Sam opened up a collection of Berenstein Bears stories on the first pick and was very happy with that.  She loves her Berenstein Bears books.   Everyone was having a blast opening books and seeing what we each got.  There were books of all kinds represented.   

A great time was had by all.  The family Hanukkah party is always a highlight of my holiday. 

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