Show off other holiday decorations

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dogmom

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I made this thread in case anyone who had any other holidays decorations instead of a tree, could show...any menorah, other candle or lighting things...etc

We honestly don't have any...I grew up in a culturally Jewish family and as a child we had a menorah <which I have now> but we never really got involved in the mainstream holiday rush of overall shopping and decorating everything. We didn't send or give holidays cards. My mom cooked what could be thought of as Jewish foods like kugel but she did that throughout the year and never really all that much. Chanukah and Christmas are not really parallels.

But just in case anyone did have anything.....
 
When I was a kid, we did have parties with friendsduring Hannukah to light then menorah, including festive foods like chocolate halvah which I think was kind of hard to obtain then.

And kids also did get little gifts. My menorah was ceramic and broke whlle moving after my kids left home and I never bothered to replace it.
 
My parents hung a light up in the shape of Santa Claus face over the fireplace and sprinkled Lvory soap flake on the floor for Christmas . This was all we did for Xmas we cerebrated the Jewish holidays . I think dad did Xmas b/c he was so poor his parents didn't have enough food let alone cerebrate any holidays he wanted his kids to have more than he did.
I don't put up any decorations for the holidays .
 
:wave:WDYS! and Botti

yup we went to a few Chanukah parties too, and there was the halavah- chocolate as you mentioned, Bott, of course - and the dreidel game, and the gelt. we didn't always have the gelt but the halavah was a requirement!

we knew some people who were frum and sometimes we went over there and then there was the sets of dishes and the cooking and the whole schmear:lol: There were 8 kids in that family and I always remember all the food smells, and the boisteriousness/laughter.....it was different from my house, where I was an only child and at that time, there was a lot of fighting between my parents. A lot of screaming mostly by my mother who has emotional turmoil she never resolved <from abusive mother who also would leave her alone when she was ill as a child>. My dad is more low-key, less "type-A" but he also will let something sit and "simmer" - and especially so during the years when I was a younger child, and there were financial difficulties we had. My folks didn't really talk to each other much at that time - we didn't have "dinner conversation" - 'how was your day' ; 'I saw Mrs. So-and-So'; or 'I picked up these plates on sale, what do you think of them?' kind of thing. And of course, we were not religious.

So going to these other folks' house with the 8 kids was very different - but it was also very familiar in a warm, almost ancient kinda way....because we were all jews....

in my childhood home we had no Christmas things at all, no Santa Clause anything. I sometimes wondered about those other kids going to sit on some old white guy's lap - what was that like?
we had our menorah but didn't put Chanukah decorations.

my dad and I liked to go for winter walks and look at the decorated trees and other festive things the neighbors had. we didn't say much to each other that I remember, we were just together and enjoying that.

in my adult and married life, we have never had any decorations either.
My hub is from a household in which he was forced to go to church til he was 16 or 17. he lived in a rural and very homogenous community as a child. Now he hates institutional religion and has no interest in any symbolism and so doesn't care that we have tree or any holiday things.
 
We had a menorah for Chanukah and dad would say some prayers during our meal , dad's mom would be there too and they would fight over the chicken rear end! They both wanted it, when they lived in Russia
the chicken rear end was a big deal b/c it has a lot of fat on it and that help keep you warm. It was funny b/c all we had to was turn the heat up to get warm so this was a power struggle between dad and his mom. She was a very proud strong Russian woman . She came here with 3 of her sons , her husband and oldest son came here first . Mom didn't like to fight and dad was a raging bull . So needless to say not many of our family liked to come to our house when dad was home. Everyone tried to talk over one another in my family so I was left behind I was able to understand what being said , when grandma and dad talked about the old country I missed a lot of what they said so have ask my older sister questions .
 
I have never met any people from the Jewish faith, so it's interesting to read the responses of you girls, and what your childhood was like.
 
I lived next to Jewish families at least twice in my life. As I kid, I don't remember Chanukah at my neighbor's, but I do remember going to their house for Seder. Being a very picky eater, you can imagine how I did - I think I only ate the matzah. :o
 
There's a Chanukah pic we have from when I'm 6 maybe - my bubbe <grandma> and zayde <grandpa> was visiting from Chicago. I'm on zayde's lap and we're sitting together at the table, he's pointing at something or discussing something with the menorah. I always like to look at that picture in the family album.
Zayde had many professions - he was a kosher butcher, furniture maker, in the garment trade doing a range of things and serving as a guide/mentor for other people. he also had farm experience, growing up in the States on a farm.

I can picture your relatives fighting over the chicken rear, WDYS!. Like in your family <and as is common among U.S. Jews, for those who aren't familiar>, my bubbe came from Kiev as a teen to escape the rogroms in the 19-teens. .she came with her mother and sisters, I think. she never wanted to talk about those times in Russia or trying to get here, too traumatic I would guess. In the States she was a flapper and did things women weren't supposed to do at that time. She was very feisty!

When they were first married, my grandparents did keep kashrut <kosher> but after a few years decided it was just too time-consuming/difficult logistically.

Your note about the matzah, LoveBlue, reminds me how much I do like matzah w/gefilte fish and horeradish and lettuce:lol:
am surprised that you -did- eat that actually.

My dad has great memories of traditional Askenazi Jewish food. I'm thinking about getting him some edible goodies for Chanukah. You can order bialys, kishke etc online

I remember the first time I actually saw a Christmas tree and presents under it, in someone's house and could start to understand that it was this holiday thing. To me it was a really different thing, I was like - wow....
 
dogmom said:
Your note about the matzah, LoveBlue, reminds me how much I do like matzah w/gefilte fish and horeradish and lettuce:lol:
am surprised that you -did- eat that actually.
Click to expand...

Just the matzah - none of that other stuff on it. :lol:
 
yeah, I know what you meant.
I wouldn't most other people to like the rest of it:lol:
but bold that you still had just the matzah!
 
I grew up with several Jewish friends, schoolmates, and neighbors, so I'm familiar with Jewish customs and holidays. Some of them were observant, some were not, some liberal, some conservative.

The family of one of my friends followed kosher kitchen practices. They had a double kitchen--two of everything, dishes, pots and pans, silver ware, refrigerators, dishwashers, sinks, stoves, etc.

The family of my Jewish friend in the Navy didn't practice their faith when he was growing up so he never had a bar mitzvah. He decided to have one when he was in his 20's, and I was invited. It was very interesting.

Back in the day, the public schools I attended didn't close for Jewish holidays but on those days we didn't do much in class because so many students and teachers were out. They might as well as closed anyway.

In my public elementary school, in addition to the daily Pledge to the Flag, the teacher would lead us in prayer. We said Psalm 23 to include Christians and Jews.

Some people in our area put up outdoor decorations and lights for Chanukah.
 
I still really like the horseradish, except now I end up eating it with fat free chicken or turkey.

Getting old sucks. I should check Amazon for halvah. This thread is making me nostalgic.

Edit: just checked and it's easy to buy a mini bar assortment of vanilla, chocolate, and pistachio. Love the modern world. It will be even better when they send it by drone.
 
dogmom said:
There's a Chanukah pic we have from when I'm 6 maybe - my bubbe <grandma> and zayde <grandpa> was visiting from Chicago. I'm on zayde's lap and we're sitting together at the table, he's pointing at something or discussing something with the menorah. I always like to look at that picture in the family album.
Zayde had many professions - he was a kosher butcher, furniture maker, in the garment trade doing a range of things and serving as a guide/mentor for other people. he also had farm experience, growing up in the States on a farm.

I can picture your relatives fighting over the chicken rear, WDYS!. Like in your family <and as is common among U.S. Jews, for those who aren't familiar>, my bubbe came from Kiev as a teen to escape the rogroms in the 19-teens. .she came with her mother and sisters, I think. she never wanted to talk about those times in Russia or trying to get here, too traumatic I would guess. In the States she was a flapper and did things women weren't supposed to do at that time. She was very feisty!

When they were first married, my grandparents did keep kashrut <kosher> but after a few years decided it was just too time-consuming/difficult logistically.

Your note about the matzah, LoveBlue, reminds me how much I do like matzah w/gefilte fish and horeradish and lettuce:lol:
am surprised that you -did- eat that actually.

My dad has great memories of traditional Askenazi Jewish food. I'm thinking about getting him some edible goodies for Chanukah. You can order bialys, kishke etc online

I remember the first time I actually saw a Christmas tree and presents under it, in someone's house and could start to understand that it was this holiday thing. To me it was a really different thing, I was like - wow....
Click to expand...

Dad's mom would try to teach us how to play poker she and dad were really good at this . My mom never really did a lot of Jewish cooking she
was not the best of cooks . Dad was better as long as he was not drunk!
I wish my dad some good memories of his childhood but he had none and hated his dad . Dad played the violin and was very good but he lost
his middle finger on his left hand b/c his dad wouldn't pay to see a doctor. He also hated his dad for pulling out of school to sell newspapers
on the streets of Boston in the winter. When dad became a successful businessman he would buy all the newspapers off of the boys on the streets and tell them to go home.
 
25u5nht.jpg
I do have my Hannukah giraffe, made for me at Build A Bear by grandcildren, but he's basically in storage at the moment due to having a young dog and a kitten. :)
 
Like your Jewish Navy friend, Reba, I was not bat mitzvah either, it wasmy own decision as I grew up secularly, of my own choosing - though as I mentioned we had the Chanukah menorah and my zayde or my dad could read the Hebrew prayers. I did have a Naming ceremony in a synagogue as a baby, where I was given a Jewish name, and a handmade wooden plaque with the name, carved by my zayde. I took that plaque with me to college and still have it.
My parents were married by a Rabbi and have a dual-language marriage certificate.

My mom grew up in a assimilated household with a Christmas tree and was confirmed. Her parents considered Yiddish a "dirty language" and English was the only language in the home. B'not Mitzvah<for girls> was uncommon at that time.
Last year the Rabbi of our synagogue at that time, performed an adult naming ceremony for my mom, where she also given - after 70-something years- her Jewish name. My dad and I and her friends were there. It was actually quite a surprise to all of us and I will always be so happy that I happened to be there for it.

Botti, I'm considering getting some stuff from this place in Naperville: http://www.schmaltzonline.com/
I LOVE your giraffe! What a sweet gift - brought me a big smile! We have a couple of blue stuffed dreidel dog toys, one for each girl <dog>.

WDYS! I wish your dad did, too! I can see why there would be a lot of stuff between your dad and his own father....one of the saddest things I think about pain/abuse/victimization is how trauma becomes an inter-generational thing.

When you mentioned cooking I know how my dad loves to tell stories about his childhood home in a Jewish Chicago neighborhood, and how he could smell his mom making home-made/from-scratch gefilte fish long before he actually got to his apartment. She made all kinds of Jewish stuff fresh.
 
I put that deli link in my favorites! Definitely will be ordering.
 
Reba said:
I grew up with several Jewish friends, schoolmates, and neighbors, so I'm familiar with Jewish customs and holidays. Some of them were observant, some were not, some liberal, some conservative.

The family of one of my friends followed kosher kitchen practices. They had a double kitchen--two of everything, dishes, pots and pans, silver ware, refrigerators, dishwashers, sinks, stoves, etc.

The family of my Jewish friend in the Navy didn't practice their faith when he was growing up so he never had a bar mitzvah. He decided to have one when he was in his 20's, and I was invited. It was very interesting.

Back in the day, the public schools I attended didn't close for Jewish holidays but on those days we didn't do much in class because so many students and teachers were out. They might as well as closed anyway.



In my public elementary school, in addition to the daily Pledge to the Flag, the teacher would lead us in prayer. We said Psalm 23 to include Christians and Jews.

Some people in our area put up outdoor decorations and lights for Chanukah.
Click to expand...

deleted
 
35ku0iv.jpg


Still a few days away, but I did obtain the halvah!
 
:thumb:
so who's bringing the latkes and Kedem for our AD Chanukah party?:lol:
 
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