Hanukkah Decor

This year we pulled out all of the stops and decorated the entire interior and exterior of our house in celebration of the festival of lights, aka. Hanukkah.

Philip built a 4 ft tall electric menorah over Thanksgiving break.

I will spare you the details...but I had to intervene on a project I really wanted nothing to do with from its inception. He wanted to use flood spotlights for each flame. It was beyond Ghetto looking. Thanks to pvc pipe and large lights on a string we were able to accomplish the candle effect.

The mantle lit with Hanukkah lights and adorned with several of our 16+menorahs (we are pieces of art in our home year round)

Our Hanukkah banner covered in sparkles (which this photo didn't capture, ugh)

Target rocks...they are selling this awesome Hanukkah placement that you can rotate each night to reveal another flame on the menorah. Love it.

2010 must have Hanukkah decor.

When you enter the house this is what you see.

Menorah's, piles of wrapped gifts (which tripled in size after this photo) and family photos

The front door greet you with the Hanukkah wreath I made

Two electric menorah's in the windows light up the front of the house

It is a tradition to put your menorah in the window for all to see.

History on why we put menorah's in the window:

The ideal place for the menorah—where it was placed it in Talmudic times—is at the front door of the home facing the street. However, the harsh realities the diaspora, Both sociopolitical and meteorological, forced the menorah indoors, and the custom developed in some communities to put it on the window sill instead. A number of reasons have been suggested throughout the years for persisting to keep the menorah in a doorway. One factor may be that the Talmud describes the mezuzah on the right side and the menorah on the left side, surrounding us with mitzvahs. Many chassidic discources expound on the significance of this layout—which cannot be achieved in the window.

The star of david wreath's that I added rope lighting to, adorn each side of the garage

History on Hanukkah: Kindling Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) lights is the most important Hanukkah custom. Jews light Hanukkah candles to remember the miracle of the Maccabees' victory and the miracle of the oil that burnt for eight days in the holy Temple. It is a mitzvah (commandment from God) that Jews "publicize the miracle" by lighting a Hanukkah Menorah (also called a Chanukiah) each night during the eight days of Hanukkah (Judaism.com)