On Sunday we lit the first Hanukkah candle of 2021. One of my favorite holidays. The festival of lights. And this year it came along with rain which made me even happier.The smell of the wet ground, the noise of the rain drops on the windows, the sky after the rain and the way it makes our little balcony garden sparkle. All this along with a holiday where you light a Menorah and eat doughnuts made this week particularly charming.

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We lit the second candle with my sister’s family, and a little friendly dog, the sweetest of all, Gigi. We prepared a delicious dinner together. To be honest, my sister’s ex-husband and his generous spouse prepared most of the food. I baked sourdough baguettes which were devoured in seconds. We ate doughnuts and sipped wine in the best tradition of Hanukkah. The kids played together and got all the sweetest hugs in the world from Gigi. We had a lovely lights festival gathering. My family is the light of my life and I’m very grateful for that.

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Every evening is a special candle lighting ceremony. A special festival of lights, even if we are only the five of us lighting the candles with some home made crispy Latkes.. The light of the candles creates a cozy homely atmosphere and I LOVE it.

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Between all the candle lighting and festivities, this week I hosted 3 knitting groups. They all had a special holiday atmosphere. One of the girls brought with her bulbs of Hyacinths, a tradition she has been keeping for several years to mark this special season. The girls still like to use my old Angie notebooks. The pretty in pink cover is the most loved one. The Stripes & Colours blanket starred on the table at Tuesday morning’s meeting. It was special because I haven’t seen the student who crocheted it for a long time, and she has now decided to join the meetings regularly. Luckily I found an available space for her in my KnitKnit. BTW, I have added a few S&C yarn packs to my Etsy shop this week, if you like to grab one before it’s gone again. The Stripes & Colours blanket pattern is available here.

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Although this week was packed with activities, I managed to get to the park for my morning walks both on Sunday and Thursday. The Eucalyptus trees that I love walking under smelt of their special winter scent and a pleasant winter sun shone through their branches.

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Yesterday we lit the fifth candle with Eyal’s mother’s. We were only a small group. His brother’s children are already adults and lead a whole independent life of their own. We came with the boys. Maya, our eldest had already committed to lighting candles with girlfriends. We had a lovely little Festival of Lights dinner together.

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This festive week, like life itself, also included less pleasant events. We visited Shiva** of a friend who lost her (too) young mother. While visiting she told us a bit about the experience of losing her mother and the last few days before she passed away and it completely shook me. Tears poured down my cheeks, I felt her pain because it’s the same pain that’s been living in my stomach since my beloved mom died, more than 3 years ago.

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There was also an emergency room visit this week because Tomer, our 11-year-old footballer, injured his leg while playing in the league. All ended well, no serious injury. He’ll rest and indulge at home with Mom for a few days and I can say he is already feeling much better. Especially when I make him strawberries and cream and let him add some sugar! So, the Festival of Lights is weaved in life itself, if you know what I mean.

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Among all the activities and celebrations, I also found time to make some progress on my crochet projects. And not only was I able to crochet, I even managed to fall deep into a rabbit hole while developing a new pattern. It’s nothing new, it happens to me quite a bit during the development of a new pattern. I hope it’s crystallizing into one or maybe two choices. We shell see…

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The festival of lights will continue till next Monday and we have some more special candle lighting gathering coming ahead and I plan to take my crochet WIP with me. How was your week my lovely readers? Have you also snacked on delicious things and enjoyed the company of loved ones this week? Some of you must have celebrated Thanksgiving. I can imagine it’s not very different from Hanukkah’s cozy atmosphere. Are you deep into Christmas preps yet? OMG are you? Anyways, wherever you are, I hope you enjoyed your week. Thank you so much for visiting me here and reading my blog. It fills my heart, XXMo

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*Hanukkah is a Jewish holiday that falls in the late fall or winter and lasts for eight days and nights. A menorah is an important part of celebrating Hanukkah, also known as “the festival of lights.

** Shiva is a Hebrew word meaning “seven” and refers to a seven-day period of formalized mourning by the immediate family & friends of the deceased.

Crochet, Crochet pattern, etsy shop, festival of lights, hanukkah