There are eight nights of Hannukah, and I feel like we partied every one of them.

First night, we had my sister's family and mom at our house. I pulled out the wedding china. I like the pattern a lot, I don't mind hand washing them, and the kids are now old enough that it is not an insane proposition. We also had the wedding stainless steel (pretty and not in need of constant polishing), the lovely wine glasses, and the gorgeous tablecloth mom brought back from Cambodia. I didn't remember to iron the napkins, so not perfect but as good as I was going to get. We bought dinner from the fancy Greek restaurant down the street, and I really noticed a difference in the quality from the fast food we usually get. The owner put everything on platters for us and helped us carry it home. Such a fancy meal made the night special.

Second night we went to a Hannukah party at school friend's of the kids. It was very lively. David stayed to wrestle over dreidals, but the rest of us left early--Rose to make chocolate mints for her friends, me and John to go dancing.

Third night we had Jewish neighbors over. We actually have so many Jewish neighbors these days that we did not invite them all, but the new young couple and the family with the new baby came. That was fun. John made amazing salmon and gluten-free latkes. I had the good china and flat wear again, but this set of napkins were even more wrinkled. We had a white elephant gift exchange where everyone left a little disappointed. Maybe next year we'll do homemade gifts or just gelt.

Fourth night wasn't really a party except I did have Mom and my friend Becky over for candles and pizza before we went to see Appalachian Homecoming, a nice Christmas show.

Fifth night no party. We did candles early with just the family, so I could go to an ice skating party and the Gay Men's Chorus Christmas show. If you're counting, that is two shows in a row.

Sixth night we had the tree decorating party.

Seventh night (tonight) we went to the extended family party at Mike and Sheila's. They made gluten-free latkes. We played Pictionary and laughed a lot. I noticed that with their lovely table setting, they had paper napkins. Note to self.

Tomorrow night it will just be us and 27 candles.