What Ana Does

My Echo in its New Home, My Island Don't you just love new tech? For Hanukkah, on the fifth night, I asked for, and received, the Amazon Echo from my hubby. What is it? In a nutshell, you can give voice commands to the Echo from anywhere in the room and it listens and obeys. It can add items to a shopping list and to do list. It can add things to your Amazon cart. It can report the weather, or what's on your Google calendar. It can answer questions about common facts and math equations. It doesn't wash your dishes or put your kids to bed. But I have a hunch there's someone at Amazon headquarters working on it. Here's an example of why this thing is so cool: While I was washing dishes last night, everyone left for frozen yogurt. So, while hands still soapy, I asked Echo to turn on my favorite playlist. ( "Alexa, play my Pandora playlist." ) She did. I asked her to turn up the volume. And then I had her skip a song. All while doing the dishes....

It's been a fantastic eight crazy nights of Hanukkah. Lots of gifts, smiles and laughter exchanged. And I just love the glow of the menorah with all of the candles lit.

The family room mantel is all done up for the season. We've got all of our Hanukkah laid out and ready for the next week of celebration. The girls continue to shake and sort their gifts; they can't keep their hands off of them. Family Room Mantel  The greenery above is sage and eucalyptus. I love the smell but it's drying out much faster than I thought it would. Memo to myself: Go with an evergreen next year. 

Happy Hanukkah, one and all. It's been an excellent Hanukkah! The girls have been sufficiently spoiled and I certainly got most of the things on my wish list (sent to David with links and sizes).

And just as quickly it started (in New Jersey, on the night of Thanksgiving, no less), Hanukkah is over.  Our eight nights were full of fun and squealing! And lighting many candles, of course. We missed one night because we were in a hotel room after spending the whole day driving home from New Jersey -- and I just didn't have the wherewithall to pull out the menorah.  Speaking of menorah, we've replaced our old, wax-filled menorah with this lovely silver beauty given to us by David's mother. It belonged to her mother and sat in the dining room for years. Isn't it pretty?! And, the wax cleans off it much easier, so we're sure to hang on to this one for many Hanukkahs to come. I'm a sucker for traditions.  Here's some photos of the last two nights: Leah Lighting the Candles - in an Eli Manning Jersey, No Less Alice Lighting in a Top She Calls her Genie Shirt David Constructing the Cardboard Pirate Ship The Last BIG Gift? A Pirate...

The Circus Tent Don't you just love this time of year?! At our house, it's definitely crazier than usual. Way more shopping, more spending, more planning, more cleaning, more company, more big dinners -- just more of everything! (I know, we're not the only ones.) I especially like celebrating Hanukkah with my little family; the few minutes we take each night to gather around the menorah, light the candles and say the blessing. Not being a very religious person, I'm more drawn to the togetherness created by this little ceremony. And I'm a sucker for annual traditions. PLUS, it ends with opening presents. But just one! Which means the girls really savor what they get. They play with it, share it and run around with it. Because it's just one. I didn't celebrate Hanukkah growing up, so it's a little unique and still new to me. I just really like it! This year we skipped the expensive electronic gifts and put the money into "imaginative" pl...