2006 DVC Member Cruise - SSMC06 - October 22, 2006

[4Gus-Gus&Figaro]

Gail - Congratulations to your daughter on her graduation! I know how proud you and John must be!

 

[4Gus-Gus&Figaro]

Here's hoping that everyone who's feeling is feeling soon!!!

 

[Stitch#1]

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
I totally forgot about chat last night....I was playing with my new toy...Love that Kitchen Aid mixer.

I made a couple of batches of refridgerator cookies last night and Jeff got a batch of molasses cookies mixed up. More cookies to be made after dinner! Yummy.

After that we'll probably pick a movie to watch and wrap presents. Nick got pretty good at it the other night when the Scouts manned the gift wrap table at Borders the other night so he'll be helping me. I'm trying something different this year. I bought plain brown paper and some holiday stamps, stickers and ribbon. Everyone will have custom gift wrap this year!!

Erin - Safe travels! Wish we could join you at the world!

Roxann - Sounds like things worked out well yesterday. Who doesn't love a good play date.

Gail - Congrats to your Daughter. I'll keep my fingers crossed that she picks the college you want!

 

[RRBB]

I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah to all who are celebrating tonight.

​

 

[cgcw]

I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!
​

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah to all who are celebrating tonight.

Robin,

Will you share your Hanukkah traditions?

Being today is the second day of Hanukkah, do you do something different today than you did yesterday? Does each day have a different meaning and different tradition which goes with it?

I hope you don't mind my asking, I'm always fascinated to hear about other religions and their celebrations. And, to hear it from a person is so much better than reading about it.

 

[alikat99]

That's a great picture. Your story brought tears to my eyes. I have a cousin near Atlanta that goes to schools and company Christmas parties every year as Santa. He really looks the part, but doesn't know all the languages etc. One year, he and his wife went out for dinner on New Year's, and a little girl in the waiting area kept looking at him. Finally, she came over to him, and said in a shy voice "Thank you for the Barbie you gave me." He was of course dressed in his own clothes, but she was SURE he was Santa! He just smiled and said "I'm glad you liked it." Here's to those who know the spirit of Christmas and keep it alive every year!

Ok, that gave me chills!!! That is just too sweet!!!

 

[cherylp3]

Cindy,
There is no meaning to each day. Some movements have a social action project for the 6th day.
http://urj.org/csa/projects/ner_shel_tzedakah/

Usually Chabad hosts lightings, there is one near me in Winter Park.

These links give information on Chanukah as well.

http://bethor.org/articles/marxcol3.html
http://tbdcheshire.org/Holidays/tbdchanukah.htm

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Hanukkah/TO_Hanukkah_Home/hanukkah_families.htm

Robin,

Will you share your Hanukkah traditions?

Being today is the second day of Hanukkah, do you do something different today than you did yesterday? Does each day have a different meaning and different tradition which goes with it?

I hope you don't mind my asking, I'm always fascinated to hear about other religions and their celebrations. And, to hear it from a person is so much better than reading about it.

 

[cherylp3]

Giving more info to Cindy: chanukah is a minor holiday for Jewish people.
http://www.jewfaq.org/holiday0.htm - This has a complete list of holidays.

One of the best known symbols of Chanukah is the Dreidel.
Children play games with the dreidel for the chocolate coins.
You can play online at http://www.jewfaq.org/dreidel/index.htm

A dreidel is a four sided top with a Hebrew letter on each side.
The four letters are:
SHIN, HEY, GIMEL, NUN
These letters mean "A Great Miracle Happened There."In Israel the dreidel is a bit different in that their letters mean " A Miracle Happened HERE!"

Dreidel is also a popular game played during the Holiday. Players use pennies, nuts, raisins, or chocolate coins (gelt) as tokens or chips.

The player spins the dreidel. When the dreidel stops, the letter that is facing up decides the fate.

NUN - nothing happens - next player spins the dreidel
GIMEL - player takes all tokens in the pot
HEY - player takes half of the pot
SHIN - player must put one token into the pot

 

[fireplug]

Well we survived! The back of the Avalanche was JUST about full of cheesecake and wine.
We had a FABULOUS day. Got to meet some new people AND while we were at the wine sale one of the girl with us saw someone she used to work with, 8 yrs ago, in a little town 100 miles from where we were! I tasted a few wines and then went back to the corner where they keep the really good stuff. Spent an hour or so sharing tastes with those who walked by. Actually convinced many customers to purchase said expensive bottles. Anyway when we were done with all our purchasing our salesperson gave me a bottle of Cognac as a "commision" for selling so much!

So Squid will be drinking some of the REAL good stuff for Christmas Eve this year!
The meal at Cheesebuger in Paradise was excellent and when we got home we shared a 13 yr old bottle of dessert wine that Coleen had been saving. All in all I think we had a GREAT day!

Squid

 

[RRBB]

Robin,

Will you share your Hanukkah traditions?

Being today is the second day of Hanukkah, do you do something different today than you did yesterday? Does each day have a different meaning and different tradition which goes with it?

I hope you don't mind my asking, I'm always fascinated to hear about other religions and their celebrations. And, to hear it from a person is so much better than reading about it.

I don't mind you asking at all. I just I hope don't throw more than your asking for at you.

As for our traditions, well the main one is lighting the Menorah each night.

Ian brought home a box of candles from school so we're letting him pick out which colors to use each night. We're also letting him hold the Shamash (the candle used to light the rest), with help of course, while we sing the prayers and light the candles. He's still not ready to sing along, but we have lots of fun Hanukkah songs to sing and Ian already had several Hanukkah books to read. (XM108 is Hanukkah music right now so I have that on in my car.)

Opening presents is another one.

Growing up in my family we got one or two small ones each night to spread out the fun and excitement, and then the night my grandfather came over - which could have been any of the 8 - we opened the big one. The tradition of gift giving at Hanukkah has evolved over time, but originally kids were given gelt (money given as reward) while their knowledge on Hanukkah was tested. They were asked about the story of Hanukkah and other things associated with it. If, they answered the questions correctly, they received gelt.

Food is a big thing in just about any Jewish holiday.

During Hanukkah we eat lots of dairy dishes and foods cooked in oil like Sufganiyot (jelly filled donut holes) and Latkes (potato pancakes). My favorite is Latkes with applesauce and sour cream

though some prefer cinnamon and sugar.




When Ian gets bigger I'm sure he'll have fun playing dreidel.

The dreidel is a four-sided spinning top with a Hebrew letter on each side representing the words nes, gadol, hayah, sham ("A Great Miracle Happened There").

The Dreidel game is played by giving each player a number of coins or candy pieces. Before spinning the dreidel, each player puts a fixed proportion of the amount of coins received into the "Kupah" or kitty. Each player in turn spins the dreidel. When the dreidel falls, it will fall on one of the 4 letters. According to the letter, the following will happen:

Nun - no win / no lose
Gimmel - take all (from the kitty)
Heh - take half (from the kitty)
Peh or Shin - lose (what you deposited)

The game continues until players run out of 'funds' or agree to stop (anyone losing all funds is out of the game). The dreidel game was popular when Antiochus ruled. Jewish people, struggling to keep their faith alive, would gathered together to study the Torah, outlawed by Antiochus. They would keep the dreidel near by so if soldiers appeared they could hide their scriptures and pretend to play with the dreidel. In Israel the dreidel is called a sivivon. The yiddish word "dreidel" is derived from the German word "drehen", or "turn".

​

As for a different meaning/tradition for each night of Hanukkah, no there isn't one. Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, is a celebration about the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days when there was only enough oil left in the temple for one day. Thus eight candles in the Menorah and eight nights of Hanukkah. (I say nights because all Jewish holidays go from sundown to sundown since the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar.)

There are several really good sources of information if you want to know more. I personally like http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/chanuka/chanstr.htm for it's simplicity and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah for it's detail.

 

[IleneF]

Dreidel is also a popular game played during the Holiday. Players use pennies, nuts, raisins, or chocolate coins (gelt) as tokens or chips.

We had an awesome game of driedle going here last night. The "pot" was candy cane kisses, LOL! It went on for about an hour.

 

[IleneF]

There are several really good sources of information if you want to know more. I personally like http://www.torahtots.com/holidays/chanuka/chanstr.htm for it's simplicity and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah for it's detail.

I really like the suggestion on the wiki about giving a blank check for $5 to each child to make out to the charity of their choice. I know families that do a mitzvah together like help at a soup kitchen on Xmas so the regular workers can spend it with family. There are alot of nice traditions.

 

[WDWLVR]

Cheryl and Robin - thanks for sharing your traditions with us. Like Cindy I always like learning about other cultures and religions.

 

[MarkRG]

I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay
And when it's dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play!

Happy 2nd night of Hanukkah to all who are celebrating tonight.

​

I hope everyone's enjoying their holiday!

And if you want to hear what that sounds like, here's BNL's version(click)

It's off an interesting holiday album from them: BNL for the holidays

They are.. rambunctious with it, my favorite off it: Sleigh Ride


Ok, back to work, thankfully almost done!

 

[Stitch#1]

Well we survived! The back of the Avalanche was JUST about full of cheesecake and wine.
We had a FABULOUS day. Got to meet some new people AND while we were at the wine sale one of the girl with us saw someone she used to work with, 8 yrs ago, in a little town 100 miles from where we were! I tasted a few wines and then went back to the corner where they keep the really good stuff. Spent an hour or so sharing tastes with those who walked by. Actually convinced many customers to purchase said expensive bottles. Anyway when we were done with all our purchasing our salesperson gave me a bottle of Cognac as a "commision" for selling so much!

So Squid will be drinking some of the REAL good stuff for Christmas Eve this year!
The meal at Cheesebuger in Paradise was excellent and when we got home we shared a 13 yr old bottle of dessert wine that Coleen had been saving. All in all I think we had a GREAT day!

Squid

Nice Steve!!!
That sounds like my kind of day!
I hope you and Coleen enjoy that bottle of wine to the fullest!

Oh and by the way I'll be stopping by your house Christmas Eve
I'll bring some of Dad's Paella and my Antipasta!

 

[fireplug]

Nice Steve!!!
That sounds like my kind of day!
I hope you and Coleen enjoy that bottle of wine to the fullest!

Oh and by the way I'll be stopping by your house Christmas Eve
I'll bring some of Dad's Paella and my Antipasta!

Sure tease me with Paella and you The cognac will be ready what time should we expect you???

Squid

 

[iluvdisney]

Just a reminder that tonite is DVC chat night - I'll be there for a while - hope some of you can stop by and say hi.

 

[WDWLVR]

Dis you all see this post about Cheryl? http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1301428

Isn't that great? Shows what a wonderful community the DIS is!

 

[toddp3]

Dis you all see this post about Cheryl? http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1301428

Isn't that great? Shows what a wonderful community the DIS is!

That's why I keep her

 

[Stitch#1]

Sure tease me with Paella and you The cognac will be ready what time should we expect you???

Squid

I don't know what time I'll get there. Dinner usually doesn't start till about 7pm on Christmas Eve at my parents house so I might not make it till Christmas Morning.