#16 400 Years of Darkness & Hanukkah

This is the site where I got most of the information that we use to talk about the 400 years between the Old and New Testaments.

I am not a historical scholar or a Bible scholar or a scholar:-), but it is interesting.

We do Hannukah (a really simplified version, since it is just one night...more of a "These are the reasons that people celebrate Hanukkah" rather than "We are reinacting the celebration of Hanukkah".

So we eat

• latkes,

• a cheese plate (to celebrate the legend story of Judith, which is part of what is celebrated at this time), (2011 addition...this year, and I don't know why I didn't think of it before, we are going to have a cheese ball. I love this one...really easy and everyone likes it...)

Zippy Cheeseball (from Food Editors Favorites Cookbook)

• 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese


• 1 (8 oz) brick of neufatel cheese (easier to mix than cream cheese)


• 2 tablespoons mayonaise


• 2 tablespoons worcestershire sauce


• 1 teaspoon onion powder...or 1 tablespoon recontstituted dehydrated onion


• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

Mix everything but the pecans and make a ball. Roll in the nuts. Wrap in plastic wrap until ready to serve. Serve with crackers or crudites.

• potato chips (because we have some who do not like potatoes in our family but are OK with chips...go figure)

• applesauce (usually eaten with latkes)

• donuts (donuts and latkes are to refer to the oil in the Hannukah story).

The ornament for us is a large piece of black tuille (am I spelling that right? That net stuff that is sold in the fabric stores) that can nearly cover the tree. And no lights from now until Christmas. This is for the 400 years of darkness.

This year I may put out eight of those flameless candles so that there is some light, but it won't be the ones actually on the tree. Just a thought.

Because there is gift giving during this time, I usually get everyone a pair of slippers. Maybe a little more fun than socks and underwear. :-) (2011 addition...got everyone fleece pajama pants this year...we'll see how that goes...) (2013 addition-This year I got us matching shirts for the Thunder.  We love matching shirts as a family, but sometimes they are hard to find when trying to get children's and adult sizes.  These were not the fanciest Thunder shirts but they do match:))