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Health & Fitness

Creative Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving – Hanukkah

For those of us who celebrate Hanukkah, we will soon experience the once in a lifetime convergence of the Thanksgiving and Hanukkah holidays. We’ve been thinking about creative ways to combine our Thanksgiving and Hanukkah traditions, while looking over ideas published in honor of this unique Thanksgivukkah opportunity, such as this quick guide from ReformJudaism.org and this Wall Street Journal article.

Here are our ideas and tips, we’d love to hear about your Thanksgivukkah plans in the comments.

But first check out this fun “Ballad of Thanksgivukkah” music video from Rabbi David Paskin.

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Prioritize What Is Most Important to You: What are the most important meanings and traditions your family loves to celebrate from each holiday? What are the messages and fun highlights you want your children to experience?

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I always like to start with this because the rest will flow easier when I’ve thought through the big picture. This also saves time and keeps things reasonable given our busy realities. Have fun, don’t do the double the work just because two holidays coincide.

 

Deeper Meaning and Ritual: We take turns sharing what we are thankful for as part of our Thanksgiving tradition, while for Hanukkah we talk about the story of the Maccabees with themes of freedom, miracles, and courage. So this year I will combine these in our discussion and storytelling. For example, we can talk about what a miracle or courage means to us and examples that we are thankful for.

When my sons were little we read from age appropriate books starting with the lift the flap and pop up types. I also like to play some spirited Hanukkah music to help set the mood. This year our Thanksgiving table will feature the traditional Hanukkah menorahs and dreidels along with the usual Turkey Day trimmings.

 

Activities and Decorations: Both holidays have always been easy foil for fun arts and craft projects with the kids. Stand bys for Thanksgiving are as simple as paper napkin holder decorations (construction paper cut as a ring taped together with perhaps some colorful leaves as decoration), or a paper plate or construction paper circle with the added head and legs to make their own turkey. My sons have made fun menorahs and dreidels in many different formats over the years. Pinterest and sites like reformjudaism.org are great sources for ideas and information.

To read the rest of the article, please visit my parenting blog at http://gooseling.com/2013/11/13/celebrating-thanksgivukkah. Lisa Danielpour is Co-Founder and COO of Gooseling, dedicated to teaching children social & life skills through video game apps. Cavity Dragons is the first game designed to encourage kids to brush their teeth.
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