Tag Archives: Chanukah

Dec 10 2016

21 ways to keep your sanity for the holidays

 Only  15 days till Chanukah!    15 days till Christmas!  22 days till New Year’s!  Time for my yearly reminder on how to keep sane.

Christmas:

  1. Instead of buying  a tree watch your friends decorate (and take down) theirs
  2. Convert to Judaism
  3. Sit in the lobby of a 5-star hotel and enjoy EXPENSIVE decorations.
  4. ADOPT a pig, instead of eating one.
  5. Make dinner potluck, you supply the paper plates and plastic cutlery
  6. Christmas dinner – Start with dessert and forget the rest.
  7. Sit on the beach in Bali.

8.  Go to bed on the 23rd and get up on January 3rd.*

9.  Only buy presents for Jesus.

10. Put a cover on the outside chimney opening so you don’t have to put out cookies and milk.

Chanukah:

11. Watch your friends decorate (and take down) their Christmas tree.

12. Convert.

13. Stay in a 5-star hotel for 8 days and nights.

14. Use credit cards instead of gelt

15. Instead of gambling with a dreidle at home go to Vegas

16. Don’t give presents, do good deeds

17. Go to bed on Thanksgiving and wake up on New Years**

18. Bake potatoes instead of grating them to death

19. Eat macaroons with Ben & Jerry

New Years:

20. *Remember! Stay in bed until the 3rd, unless you’re Jewish.

21. **If you are Jewish, go back to bed.

 

Peace on Earth & Sanity to all my Friends!

Dec 22 2012

21 Ways to Keep Your Sanity for the Holidays

Oh my gosh!  I missed reposting my annual holiday post.  For those of you who already celebrated Chanukah you’ll have images-7to remember the tips for next year when I might forget to post them again.  For those of you who celebrate Christmas you have 4 days to follow the tips.  For the rest of you, you can ALWAYS follow the last two tips any time you run out of steam or time …
So! As I speak, time is running out. (Actually “time” doesn’t run out it since linear “time” is just a tiny mechanism in our brains that helps us keep our sanity).

Peace on Earth & Sanity to all my Friends!

Christmas:

  1. Instead of buying a tree watch your friends decorate (and take down) theirs
  2. Convert to Judaism
  3. Sit in the lobby of a 5-star hotel and enjoy EXPENSIVE decorations.
  4. Adopt a turkey, instead of eating one.
  5. Make dinner potluck, you supply the paper plates and plastic cutlery
  6. Christmas dinner – Start with dessert and forget the rest.
  7. Sit on the beach in Bali
  8. Go to bed on the 23rd and get up on the 3rd
  9. Only buy presents for Jesus.
  10. Put a cover on the outside chimney opening so you don’t have to put out cookies and milk.

Chanukah:

images-3-111. Watch your friends decorate (and take down) their Christmas tree.

12. Convert to Christianity

13. Stay in a 5-star hotel for 8 days and nights.

14. Use credit cards instead of gelt

15. Instead of gambling with a dreidle at home go to Vegasimages-1-1

16. Don’t give presents, do good deeds

17. Go to bed on Thanksgiving and wake up on Christmas

18. Bake a potato instead of grating them to death

19. Eat macaroons with Ben & Jerry

New Years:

20. Remember, you are in bed until the 3rd, unless you’re Jewish.

21. If you are Jewish, go back to bed.

Dec 3 2010

First Friday! I Made a Little Dreidel

It’s FIRST FRIDAY in my office!  You are invited!  Everyone brings journals to work on and/or I provide a “Make-n-Take” to do and/or we do whatever I “feel” inclined to do.  But mostly we LAUGH which is the most healing and fun of all.

Tonight I have a few surprises and . . . in addition . . .to the “Make-‘n-Take activity . . .I’m thinking that we might do a little Dreideling . . . in addition to the few surprises. . .

So if you can’t join us here’s your own FIRST FRIDAY FUN:

The dreidel is a 4-sided top of ancient origin.  Here’s a template and instructions to make your own.  It prints out, I tried it!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/worksheets/pdf/judaism_hanukkah_dreidelpattern.pdf

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/religion/worksheets/pdf/judaism_hanukkah_tomakeadreidel.pdf

The Hebrew letters on the side are nun, gimel, hay, and shin.
They form an acronym in Hebrew which means
“A great miracle happened there.”

How to play Dreidel Game

This game is best played in groups of 4-6. Each player gets an equal number of pennies, nuts, M&Ms, stones or whatever you wish to use.

Each player takes turns spinning the dreidel.

If it lands on:

Nun (“nisht”or “nothing” (in Yiddish)

— the player receives nothing, next player spins.

Gimel (“gantz”or “everything” in Yiddish)

— the player takes all of the pot.

Hay (“halb”or “half” in Yiddish) (In case of an odd number of tokens, round up.)

— the player takes half of the pot.

Shin (“shtel” or “put in” in Yiddish)

— the player puts a playing piece into the pot.

Each time the pot is emptied out, each player puts in a

playing piece (penny, nut, candy) and the game continues until the pot is empty.

While you’re making your dreidel sing along!

I Have a Little Dreidel song!

I have a little dreidel
I made it out of clay,
And when it’s dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play.

Chorus
O dreidel, dreidel, dreidel
I made it out of clay,
And when it’s dry and ready
Then dreidel I shall play.

It has a lovely body
With legs so short and thin,
And when my dreidel’s tired
It drops and then I win.

Chorus

My dreidel’s always playful
It loves to dance and spin,
A happy game of dreidel
Come play now, let’s begin.

Chorus