Last night we threw a Hannukah party because there just wasn't enough partying going on. Surprise number one, we didn't invite any of our relatives, for which we are getting a lot of grief. Surprise number two, the kids did a lot of prep. Here is the to do list I gave them:

Move shoes to Daddy's closet
Move coats to Daddy's closet
tidy living room
tidy dining room
sweep living room
sweep dining room
clean downstairs bathroom
put a candle in the downstairs bathroom
tidy t.v. room
tidy hall
pick tablecloths
set tables
scrub the potatoes
peel the potatoes

I volunteered to take over cleaning the bathroom and they did all the rest. Pleasantly. It made the last minute tizzy before the guests arrived totally manageable.

Trader Joe's (via my sister, who was not invited) supplied the gluten latkes and some g-f sweet potato ones. John cooked g-f latkes, a delicious frittata; one friend brought salad, another cheese; I did a morning run to the best donut shop in Seattle (Family Donut); and we forgot to serve the asparagus.

Segregation served us well. The kids had their own table and could laugh uproariously in the other room. The adults could actually have a conversation. Then after dinner, the four seven year old boys retired to the other room for air hockey on our new toy, and the girls played dreidel.

We had a very nice time--nine kids, seven adults, six practicing Jews, five considering adding Judaism back into their life, and four who have one Jewish great-grandma but really like latkes. Oh, and one of the families were the neighbors newly arrived from New York. Who says Seattlites aren't friendly?